After a very slow start, high definition television (HDTV) is set to reach 45 million households worldwide by 2008, says a new report by the technology analysts at InStat/MDR.
Currently, just over 4 million households have HDTV television display technology. This offers life-like detail and impressive audio performance quality, similar to that of a compact disc. It typically uses digital, rather than analogue, transmission as the bandwidths required to carry the information are large.
TV broadcasters and multichannel service providers are also becoming interested in the services offered by HDTV. It is being marketed as a premium service that has the potential to boost monthly revenues for cable and satellite operators, while providing terrestrial TV broadcasters with a new weapon in their fight against pay-TV, says InStat.
HDTV is currently only available in Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Japan is leading the way with over 2 million households watching HDTV programmes. A few more countries in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to roll this out within the next year.
Since HDTV launched in Europe in January, the demand for the new technology has been growing. More then 17 million European homes are expected to have HD-equipped sets by 2008, according to a report out last month from Strategy Analytics (see Demand For HDTV Grows In Europe, Says Strategy Analytics).
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