48% of European homes now receive digital TV

September 27, 2007 – There were 83mn homes in Europe receiving digital TV transmissions as of the end of June 2007, out of a total of 166mn in 20 Western European countries, according to Milan-based research firm e-Media Institute.

This represents 48% of the total number of homes in the 20 countries studied, however different countries were found to be switching from analogue to digital at differing speeds.  Several countries, such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Andorra and Finland, have already switched off their analogue signal transmitters, while others are making the switchover more slowly.  Italy was found to be the only country that is slowing down in its switch over, and had the second-lowest growth rate of digital households in the first half of 2007 at 5.2%.

The study found that satellite is still the largest pay-TV platform, with more than 23mn households receiving satellite TV services, growing by 6.5% between June 2006 and June 2007 in Western Europe.  High growth rates have also been noted for IPTV platforms, and there are now an estimated 3.8mn IPTV subscribers in Western Europe.  France remains the largest IPTV market with 2mn subscribers, followed by Spain with nearly 500,000.