Digital TV Homes in Western Europe to Hit 157 Million

LONDON, August 5: There
will be 104 million digital TV homes in Western Europe by the end of this year,
according to Informa Telecoms & Media, which forecasts 157 million homes
and a 90-percent penetration rate by 2013.

The new research notes
that digital TV penetration in the region has risen from 42 percent in 2006 to
54 percent at the end of last year. The biggest digital TV market in 2007 was
the U.K. with 22.3 million homes, followed by France with 18 million, Germany
with 15.3 million, Italy with 11 million and Spain with 8.2 million. By 2013,
Germany will emerge as the top digital TV market with 30.4 million homes, with
France in second place with 27 million and the U.K. third with 26.5 million.
Italy will have 23.8 million digital TV homes and Spain 17.9 million.

The report adds that full
digital conversion is only expected in four of Western Europe’s 15 major
broadcast countries—Finland, France, Ireland and the U.K.

Adam Thomas, Informa’s
media research manager, said: “While cable will remain the region’s leading
pay-TV platform, the satellite subscriber base is eating into its dominance.
Satellite’s much higher ARPU levels mean it will overhaul cable in revenue
terms during 2009.”

Cable will also lose out
to DTT by 2011. “DTT often provides a similar channel lineup to analogue cable,
usually for no monthly fee, so will benefit from churning cable customers,”
Thomas said. “IPTV is also using attractive triple-play bundles to tempt away
cable subscribers.”

DTT will have a 46-percent
share of the digital market in France by 2013, with 22 percent for satellite,
18 percent for IPTV and 12 percent for cable. In the U.K., DTT will take 39
percent of the market, with 37 percent for DTH, 12 percent for cable and just 6
percent for IPTV. In Italy, DTT will take a majority share, 57 percent, with 24
percent for satellite and 9 percent for IPTV. And in Spain, DTT will emerge
with a whopping 67-percent share, while 12 percent will go to satellite, 8
percent to cable and 7 percent to IPTV. DTT will not fare as well in Germany,
taking just a 13-percent share, second to cable’s 22 percent, while 6 percent
will go to satellite and 7 percent to IPTV.

—By Mansha Daswani