Hong Kong – Asia’s top 40 pay-TV operators added 5.8 million net new subscribers during the six months to end-June 2009, according to latest research from Media Partners Asia (MPA). These additions take the combined customer base of Asia’s top 40 operators to 65.3 million, around a third of the region’s installed pay-TV base. MPA forecasts indicate that these leading operators will end the year with 70.7 million customers, implying annual net additions of 11.3 million and close to 20 percent annual growth. MPA says regional gains have been driven by significant subscriber growth in China and India, low-ARPU markets where cable and DTH have led the way. Excluding these two markets, pay-TV subscribers for the leading operators in the region are expected to grow at less than 8 percent this year. Subscriber and ARPU growth has softened in Singapore and Hong Kong while churn has risen in Indonesia, but customer additions remain solid for the most part in Thailand, Malaysia and Australia. The growth of fibre-based IPTV services, meanwhile, is providing a boost to the saturated Japan market. More than 70 percent of the 40 operators’ user base had been upgraded to digital TV (DTV) by the end of June. MPA says this has largely been driven by momentum in China, Australia, Japan and Korea, and a recent cable DTV relaunch in Taiwan. While India has disappointed in terms of cable DTV growth, DTH adoption remains strong.