100-Million-Plus Households in Western Europe have Digital TV

BOSTON: Digital television subscriptions broke through the 100 million household mark in 2008, according to new data from Strategy Analytics.

The report, Western Europe Digital Television Forecast, 1H’09 estimates that Western Europe added 17 million net new digital households in 2008.

While digital satellite had the most subscriptions, digital terrestrial television (DTT) is expected to fuel growth in the four years, with 57 million homes having DTT as their primary platform by 2012.

“As European countries undergo their respective digital switchovers and analogue signals are shut off, DTT will emerge as the dominant primary digital viewing platform,” noted John Lee, the analyst in the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “DTT service is becoming competitive with lower-tier pay television offerings—both in terms of channel selection and quality.”