Satellite Broadcasters May Dominate Digital Market

A recent survey by technology analysts Datamonitor claims that the introduction of digital terrestrial will see satellite broadcasters initially dominating cable and terrestrial providers.

By 2002, says the report, 64% of the digital market will be catered for by satellite broadcasters. The struggle which digital terrestrial television faces is not due technological capabilities but is because consumers associate it with a free service, ie. terrestrial television, and are therefore unwilling to pay for it. The reluctance to pay for satellite and cable services has been largely broken down already and so cable and satellite services will probably see an faster initial uptake.

The report projects that by 2002 there will be 1.4 million households in Europe which receive digital terrestrial TV. France is liable to have the highest digital penetration although the UK will not be far behind (subscribers see UK Digital Set-Top Box Penetration 11% By 2002).

A Datamonitor consultant, Fraser Pearce says that, “significant opportunities still exist in the cable and terrestrial markets over the next three to five years. The current 2.5 million digital subscribers will reach over 13 million in just four years, as services develop into interactive platforms”.

Datamonitor: 0171 316 0001