Consumers Reluctant To Upgrade To Digital Television
Throughout Europe consumers are reluctant to upgrade from analogue to digital television unless they have to, or there is no effort involved, according to a report from ZenithOptimedia.
The research shows that DTV is pushed by capitalists rather than pulled by consumers. In its report on the Western European DTV market the group found time and again that consumers have little interest in upgrading to DTV for the technology’s own sake.
“People buy convenience, not science-fiction left over from the ‘new economy’,” says ZenithOptimedia somewhat scathingly. The group goes on to note that there are no firm national analogue switch-off dates anywhere in Europe. It says that this is because there are no votes to be gained by government’s in proposing a digital deadline.
For its part, the UK Government has said that analogue broadcasts will be terminated by the end of 2010, the far end of its deadline window. There are plans that the switchover may be staggered across different UK regions and different channels; BBC2 is expected to be the first station to be switched off.
The potential sticking block for the Government is that it has promised not to cease analogue broadcasts until 95% of the country’s households are hooked up to digital. Unfortunately, it seems that more than 10% of consumers are refusing to make the switch. A study by Generics Group found that around 13% of British households will not voluntarily switch to DTV. A further 3% claim they currently have no plans to invest in non-terrestrial services, but say they could be persuaded in the future.
“Proponents of DTT [digital terrestrial television] – who are usually media owners – like the idea of pushing the consumer, so they lobby governments for firm analogue switch-off dates. But there are no votes to be gained by this, only lost,” says ZenithOptimedia.
With no analogue switch-off date, DTT is redundant in most countries, as commercial failures like ITV Digital and Quiero in Spain prove, says the group’s report. However, the success of Freeview in the UK appears to have presented a solution model for DTT. But ZenithOptimedia is wary even of this.
“Some say [Freeview] is the most popular consumer electronics application the UK has ever seen. But it is not a free-market solution. Freeview’s audiences watch content subsidised by everyone who pays the licence-fee, Freeview and non-Freeview households alike. Supporters see this as investment to bring forward the day when all UK households are digital. But public patience with the way the BBC redistributes wealth may evaporate before that day arrives,” it says.
The group concludes that DTT will ‘stand or fall’ as a direct substitute for terrestrial distribution of commercial free-to-air television.
The latest figures from Ofcom show that 50.2% of UK households received DTV as of December 2003. Of this, BSkyB commanded the majority of 6.9 million, whilst around 2.2 million receive digital cable TV. Freeview boxes were installed in 3.4 million homes by the end of 2003, displaying a huge 43.5% growth over Q3 2003.
ZenithOptimedia: 020 7224 8500 www.zenithoptimedia.com
Recent Television Stories from NewsLine Top Up TV Confirms End Of March Launch Date Channel 4 To Profit From Sex And The City Climax ITV Sales And Zenith Launch New Airtime Initiative
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive