A new report from Screen Digest forecasts that there will be up to 82 million European HD ready households by 2010 (48% of TV households).
However, as HD ready households will need an HD-capable set top box, of the 82 million HD ready households in 2010, only 17 million will actually be watching HD broadcasts (10% of all TV households).
It adds that combined with the bigger sales of next-generation disc equipped game consoles (PS3 and Xbox360). It expects 4.5 million hi-def disc players to be sold in Western Europe in 2007, growing to 32 million in 2010.
A recent report from Strategy Analytics forecast that European sales of HDTV and video devices will grow by 158% this year, reaching 28.1 million units (see European Sales Of HDTV Devices To Reach 28.1 Million Units).
Meanwhile, Informa Telecoms & Media forecast that there will be 151 million HDTV homes worldwide by the end of 2011 – more than three times the number at the end of 2006 (see HDTV Could Be In 151 Million Homes Globally By 2011).