Euros set to outstrip U.S. in digital
Estimates put 63% household to receive units by 2009
This is according to a report from Datamonitor, the Evolving Broadcast Sector, which estimates that around 63% of households in both regions will receive digital TV by the end of 2009.
However, by 2010 69% of Euro homes will be able to watch digital, 3% more than Stateside.
"Competition across the digital TV sector is now greater than ever before, prompting operators to develop their offerings to attract and retain subscribers," says Adrian Drozd, senior media and broadcasting analyst and author of the study. "The emergence of IPTV will boost levels of competition and add new impetus to the plans of established operators."
However, take-up of digital services will vary considerably across Europe.
The U.K. is the only Euro country that has more than half of households connected to digital TV.
Datamonitor estimates that by 2010, 95% of British households will have made the transition to digital, music to the ears of the U.K. government, which wants the nation to ditch analog by 2012.
Freeview, the digital terrestrial platform owned jointly by the BBC, BSkyB, ITV and Channel 4, is expected to become Blighty's dominant digital platform by 2008.
Germany will continue to lag behind other Euro markets, with only half of TV households expected to convert to digital by the end of 2010.
Datamonitor believes IPTV will remain a niche proposition across Europe as it faces stiff competition from cable and satellite services and, increasingly, DTT.
The study forecasts 9.5 million IPTV subscribers across the region by the end of 2010, with fewer than 9% of digital households connecting via the Internet.
France is likely to be Europe's strongest IPTV market, accounting for around 28% of households subscribing to the services across the region by the end of 2010.
This is due to low cable penetration and restrictions on installing satellite dishes on buildings.
In the U.S., IPTV is gathering momentum and developing beyond the rural phone companies that have been delivering TV content over DSL for several years.
However, Datamonitor expects the U.S. to be a more challenging market than Europe for IPTV.
This is because of high levels of pay TV penetration and strong competition from established cable and satellite providers.
Take-up is expected to be around 6 million households by the end of the decade.
