There were almost 841,000 subscribers to digital pay-TV services in Switzerland at the end of 2009, with Swisscom storming up the rankings and threatening to overtake market leader Cablecom, according to a new report from market research firm Dataxis.

Cablecom had 379,200 customers by the end of 2009, up 4.7% from three months previously, while Swisscom had reached 230,000 subscribers for its IPTV service 'Swisscom TV' by the end of 2009, up 23.7% by the same comparison.  Satellite operator Canalsat Switzerland is in third place with around 12,000 customers by the end of 2009, and there is also a new entrant in the IPTV sector, VTX, with operations in Basel and Pully.

Although cable TV has historically been the leader of the Swiss pay-TV market, its dominance is threatened by IPTV, which is "now more reliable and permits a wider range of additional services", according to Dataxis.  If this trend is confirmed, then Swisscom will pass Cablecom and become the leader of the Swiss digital pay-TV market, the report adds.