Once all the numbers are in, ABI Research expects the worldwide pay TV market to have grown 5% in 2014, surpassing 924.4 million subscribers. The research house expects IPTV to be up 14% in 2014, followed by satellite TV at 7%. Growth rates for cable and terrestrial TV are expected to come in around 3%.
Global cable TV market growth is driven by the Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets. A combination of the two regions is expected to add over 13 million subscribers in 2014 while the cable TV market in North America is expected to decline approximately 1%. In 3Q 2014, major cable TV operators in North America lost more than 400,000 TV customers, although cable companies are doing well in broadband.
Approximately 57% of total pay TV subscribers are expected to be HD subscribers by 2019. ABI forecasts the global pay TV market will generate $324 billion in service revenues by 2019.