UPC defends its second position on the TV market with lower prices

UPC, ranking second on the domestic TV services market, has aggressively slashed prices for its cable TV services and service packages including Internet and has come to offer fixed telephony for free, under certain conditions, as part of an action that seems to have as a strategic goal blocking Romtelecom growth and taking on RCS&RDS. The company controlled by Liberty Global US group cut tariffs for analogue cable TV from 20 RON to 15 RON, with the move most likely targeting small cities, seriously hurt by recession, where price is the most important criterion in selecting a TV operator. At this value, of 15 RON, UPC has the lowest tariff on the market for analogical cable TV as compared with its rivals of RCS&RDS and even NextGen, Romtelecom’s cable TV company. Yet, what prompted UPC, one of the companies that is not known on the market for its aggressive price strategies, but on the contrary, to resort to this method to gain new clients and keep the ones whose contracts expire? One of the reasons UPC officials would undoubtedly quote is the company’s restructuring moves of recent years. However, nobody cuts prices just because the organisation is better structured. Indeed, in the case of UPC, too, it is pressures from rivals that are forcing the operator to come to the offensive.