250 Million Digital TV Homes Forecast in Asia Pacific by 2013

LONDON, June 12: The
number of digital TV homes in the Asia-Pacific region will soar from 75 million
in 2007 to 246.3 million in 2013, with more than half in China alone, according
to a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

The Asia Pacific TV report indicates that digital TV penetration in
the region will rise to more than 33 percent from 13 percent at the end of last
year. China has overtaken Japan as the region’s biggest digital TV market, with
27.3 million homes in 2007 rising to 123.3 million in 2013, reflecting 50.1
percent of the total digital TV pie. Japan, the second biggest digital TV
market with 19.9 million homes last year, will become the third largest in 2013
with 35.7 million, a 14.5-percent share. India’s digital TV homes will increase
from 11.7 million to 40.8 million, giving it a 16.6-percent share of the
market.

Adam Thomas, the author of
the report, said: “China’s sheer size makes it the region’s most eye-catching
market, but there has been progress pretty much everywhere. At the end of last year the region had 75 million homes
receiving digital signals. This is more than ten-times the 2001 figure and
paves the way for even greater expansion over the next five years.”

Thomas continued: “With
pay TV generating almost $50 billion and TV advertising worth a further $70
billion, the prospects for reward from the region’s TV business are impressive
by anyone’s standards.”

—By Mansha Daswani