Spanish telco Telefónica added 101,000 television customers in the quarter leading to September on the back of its acquisition of a number of football rights.
The Digital TV Europe website reported that Telefónica’s TV customer base grew by just 8,000 in the previous quarter.
The growth in the quarter leading to September represents the telco’s best results since it acquired pay-television broadcaster DTS in 2015. The number of Telefónica TV customers in Spain now stands at 4.036 million.
In recent times, Telefónica has acquired rights in Spain to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League, along with the Spanish LaLiga and Segunda Division, and France’s Ligue 1.
Telefónica’s overall television base has grown to 8.8 million, which represents a year-on-year increase of 5.6 per cent.
Telefónica chief executive José María Álvarez-Pallete said: “Third quarter results reflect the solid execution of our strategic priorities. To begin with, both high-value customers and their average revenue continued increasing, with a strong level of net additions in mobile contract, including the best figure for Spain over the last 10 years, LTE, fibre and pay-TV.
“More and higher-value customers, coupled with stable churn rates, translates into higher business sustainability. If we add to that the wider coverage of our high-speed networks, the efficiencies we are already achieving in digitalisation and simplification, and the launch of Movistar Home via Aura, among others, we are further strengthening our future positioning.”