Orion Express, a Russian satellite TV operator, has announced expansion plans in several former member states of the former Soviet Union. Analysts believe that this strategic move may be necessary for Russia’s fastest-growing player in the sector since it faces a glut in its domestic market.
Earlier this week, Orion launched its pay services in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country with about 200,000 households watching satellite TV on a regular basis. Kirill Makhnovsky, Orion’s director for development, expects the Kyrgyz project to start paying off during its second year of operation.
In an exchange with the Russian business daily Vedomosti, Makhnovsky said the company was also gearing up for its debuts in Kazakhstan, another Central Asian state, as well as in Ukraine and the Transcaucasia countries including Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. He opted not to disclose any other details regarding the prospective efforts.
According to iKS-Consulting, Orion’s Russian subscriber base swelled in the first six months of 2013 by a hefty 81% year over year growth, a dramatic surge in a national market that grew a timid 13%.
However, there’s little room left in Russia for the company to grow further. With bigger cities saturated with cable TV networks, rural areas being actively cultivated by competitors like Tricolor TV, and even bargain basement pricing offers unlikely to win enough new domestic audiences, expanding into the vast post-Soviet markets with their pent-up demand for satellite TV services may be the key that unlocks long-term opportunities.
- Source: Vedomosti
