 BRAZIL | OPERATORS |
|
|
|
Dante Campagno, head of pay TV at the youngest operator in Brazil, explained his focus on HD, stated he planned to reach 200,000 subscribers in its first six months, and analyzed the country's current legal landscape.
|
|
Dante Campagno, director of GVT TV
|
GTV likes to do things differently. "When we launch OTT, we won't do it just to do it. It will be done right," said Dante Campagno, director of pay TV at Vivendi's telco. Doing business since January 2012, GVT TV has very ambitious goals: to reach NET Servicos' amount of subscribers (4.3 million) in two years. As for its initial six months of business, it has already reached 200,000.
"It might seem like a few if you consider the size of the market, but one must keep in mind GVT doesn't operate on a national level, only in a few regions," he said and stated being the youngest player in the market has certain "competitive advantages" on a technological level.
|
|
|
|
HD AND CONNECTIVITY
"If we analyze the competitors' lineup and packages, they're all very similar. That's why we decided to do it differently. For instance, we premiered our HD for all our clients, and that entails a rupture in the market," he said. This means both the cheapest and most expensive offers have HD channels.
The second item mentioned by the executive as a clear differential, is that "100% of set-top-boxes are connected" to their broadband network, which means the possibility to offer interactive services to all homes. "That way we have VOD for 100% of our clients. Nobody else does that in Brazil," he said.
NEW LAW
As far as Brazil's new pay TV law goes, Campagno believes there's no reason for the law to decrease the prices for the final consumer: "Ancine's goal is to create a strong national content production industry, which is positive in the long run. But in the short run, I don't see great changes, only small adaptations for programmers and content acquisitions," he said.
The main consequence, which affects all operators, is the need to adapt their offers. "We are still not entirely sure what we have to do, since the channels haven't been organized into "Brazilian" and "Independent Brazilian". GVT didn't put together its lineup because the channels are international, but simply because they're good. What's going to happen is that we'll start to add medium-quality channels to meet the minimum national content required" by the new law.
"That will change over time, becuase there will be programmers willing to create higher-quality channels. Of course, the law has an impact, but it's nothing that serious," he said.
|
|
 |
|
Where Everything Grows
