Western European Cable To Reach 60m Homes By 2005
The Western European cable market is expected to reach almost 60 million homes by 2005, according to projections by Merrill Lynch. The potential for broadband pay-TV television services therefore far outstrips the market potential of the digital satellite and terrestrial platforms.
Digital terrestrial pay-television (DTT) is expected to overtake analogue during 2003, reaching around 4.5 million households. Currently, there are just over 5 million terrestrial analogue homes and just under 2 million DTT homes that hold subscription TV services.
Digital satellite reaches more than 17 million households at present and should cover 27.6 million by 2005; the vast majority of satellite homes are already digital. Sky Digital currently has around 5.3 million customers signed up to its service in the UK.
| Pay-TV Penetration In Western Europe (Homes ‘000s) | |||||
| Year | Cable | Satellite | Terrestrial Analogue | Digital Terrestrial | Digital Satellite |
| 1996 | 40,600 | 6,249 | 6,955 | 0 | 273 |
| 1997 | 43,313 | 7,937 | 6,519 | 0 | 2,027 |
| 1998 | 44,297 | 9,783 | 6,225 | 19 | 4,405 |
| 1999 | 46,203 | 12,140 | 5,970 | 532 | 8,350 |
| 2000 | 48,060 | 15,598 | 5,488 | 1,110 | 13,569 |
| 2001 | 50,867 | 18,671 | 5,192 | 1,816 | 17,026 |
| 2002 | 52,939 | 21,670 | 4,880 | 2,989 | 20,016 |
| 2003 | 54,994 | 24,683 | 4,569 | 4,359 | 22,855 |
| 2004 | 57,030 | 27,339 | 4,281 | 5,910 | 25,297 |
| 2005 | 58,901 | 29,829 | 4,057 | 7,792 | 27,612 |
| Source: Merrill Lynch | |||||
