BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 5
By Sadraddin Agjayev - Trend:
There has been a sharp increase up in watching national TV channels, in particular news programs, in Azerbaijan during the quarantine regime, Head of the Marketing Department ofKATV1 operator Ali Aliyev told Trend.
Aliyev spoke about the most viewed domestic and foreign TV channels by the residents of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.
"First, there was an increase in viewing Real TV, Xezer TV, AzTV, ARB 24, ITV channels by people having national IP-addresses,” head of the department said. “TOP 5 most viewed TV channels among international internet queries are CBC TV, Xezer TV, AzTV, ARB 24 and Real TV channels.”
“Among the Russian-language channels, people prefer to watch TNT, Russia, Russia 24 and NTV channels," Aliyev added.
“Viewing of thematic TV channels increased by 100 percent, while children's TV channels - by 50 percent compared to previous months, and exceeded four hours a day,” head of the department said. “Popular TV channels among children are Carousel and Mult TV.”
"About 12 percent of the Azerbaijani population use the services of cable TV operators,” head of the department said. “Today, more than 72 percent of the country's population uses satellite TV, namely, 54 percent of them receive the signal of the Turkish TV channels combined with receiving of the signal of the Azerbaijani national TV channels, and about 18 percent receive the signal from the Russian-language platforms, both from open broadcasting and by subscription.”
“The load on the internet in the districts and private households has decreased due to the wide coverage of the satellite TV, ”Aliyev said.
“The internet traffic which sharply increased and, accordingly, the load on the network equipment of the companies worldwide, have raised concerns about the possible increase in the frequency and duration of failures,” head of the department added.
"The state support is required to coordinate the work of providers to improve the quality of broadcasting and develop the internet structure in the country,” Aliyev added. “It is necessary to consider the world experience, where the state is actively creating the conditions for providers, investing in mobile communication and internet infrastructure to prevent the emergence of financial problems in the telecommunications sphere."
“The telecommunications companies may expect one of the most powerful outbursts of post-crisis investments due to the fact that the state will begin to actively stimulate the development of 5G and fiber-optic networks,” head of the department said.
"However, one must not expect an increase in the total profitability of the sector,” Aliyev said. “The consumer services sector of the ICT industry tends to maintain relative stability during the period of economic turmoil."
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