“Telecoms are turning into content providers,” according to CEO Richard Moat.
In an interview with Silicon Republic, CEO of Eir, Richard Moat, was asked if he believed telecoms companies are transitioning into media companies. In his answer he said that, “TV is changing the culture of the business. We are becoming more of a media company."
The Eir CEO, also said that, “Telecoms companies have to move in the direction of TV content if they wish to continue winning customers.”
Eir reported its first-quarter results yesterday, 3rd November and a noticeable development has been growth in TV customers. The company reported 58,000 Eir Vision TV customers, up 8 percent on previous figures.
Last year, Eir acquired Setanta for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that includes BT Sports’ Irish rights.
The CEO, noted that for the company, “A key development in this quarter has been the rebranding of Setanta as Eir Sport.” He said, “You have to give reasons for people to join that they haven’t had before.”
We have 188,000 customers accessing Eir Sport and this has doubled since we acquired Setanta, said Moat.”
In the past year, Eir’s rival Virgin Media has acquired TV3 and UTV. This competition has intensified, following the decision by Virgin to drop Eir Sport and BT Sports in favour of Sky.
Eir have recently appointed a new head of TV, Glen Killane, and are looking at focusing on developing a range of new content strategies to increase customer numbers.
Such events are evidence of this increasing movement of cultural change within the telecoms business.
