ITU: More Than Half of TV Worldwide is Digital

GENEVA: More than 55 percent of households with a television are now receiving a digital signal, compared to just 30 percent in 2008, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) annual report.

In the developing world, the number of households receiving digital TV almost tripled in the four-year period from 2008 to 2012, from 138 million to 380 million. In developed countries, around 81 percent of total households with a TV received signals through digital technologies by the end of 2012. This means that there are 385 million households receiving digital TV in the developed world.

The number of pay-TV subs worldwide grew by 32 percent in that same four-year period. There were 728 million pay-TV subscriptions at the end of 2012; this means that 53 percent of all households globally that have a television have a pay-TV subscription.

There were 142 million households receiving only DTT on their primary TV set (10 percent of households with a TV) globally by the end of 2012, which is up by 24 million from a year ago and by 86 million from 2008.

Global cable subscriptions amounted to 467 million (34 percent of households with a TV) by end 2012, up from 420 million (33 percent of households with a TV) at end 2008. Cable penetration is highest in the Asia Pacific and the Americas, and quite low in Africa and the Arab States. China (175 million) and India (62 million) are the countries with the most cable subscriptions in 2012; this equates to 45 percent of all households receiving cable TV in China and 27 percent in India by end 2012.

By end 2012, 301 million homes watched TV via a satellite dish, up from 198 million at end 2008. The total in developing countries rose to 164 million by end 2012, up 84 million on the total at the end of 2008.

At the end of 2012, 122 million homes received free-to-air satellite TV signals, up from 90 million at end 2008. This represents 9 percent of global households with a TV, up from 7 percent at end 2008. The proportion was as high as 63 percent in the Arab States by end 2012, though was around 10 percent or lower in all other regions.

The number of IPTV subscriptions reached 72 million globally by end 2012, up by 17 million from the year ago and more than four times than reported in 2008. IPTV penetration in developed countries reached at 9 percent by end 2012, compared with 3 percent in 2008. In developing countries, 3 percent of households with a TV received IPTV by end 2012, up from less than 0.3 percent at the end of 2008.