SNL Kagan Study: U.S. Dominates Global Pay-HDTV Market

MONTEREY, November 9: A new SNL Kagan study on
high-definition television revealed that the U.S. leads the global pay-HDTV
market with 6 million homes accessing those services via cable, satellite or
IPTV subscriptions by the end of this year.

However, with the inclusion of free HDTV, the study found
that Japan has the largest HDTV base overall, with 9.2 million households by
the end of this year. SNL Kagan predicts that the U.S. will take the top slot
by year-end 2008 with 6 million additional homes adopting HD.

Although the U.S. and Japan are market leaders by volume,
Canada and France lead the world in HDTV penetration of pay-TV households.

The study, entitled Global High Definition Television
Trends, examines multichannel markets in
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the U.K. and
the U.S. SNL Kagan estimates that the top ten HDTV markets will generate
aggregate HDTV video service revenues in excess of $1 billion in 2007, $11
billion by 2014 and $12 billion by 2016.

"As competition between cable, satellite and IPTV
intensifies, HD programming becomes increasingly important," said SNL
Kagan senior analyst Ben Reneker. "At this point, operators are looking
for any possible means to get an edge on the competition. In addition to
providing a new revenue stream, a strong HDTV lineup offers a powerful bragging
right."

—By Irene Lew