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Digital TV Reaches Over 100m Homes

Digital TV Reaches Over 100m Homes

Digital TV (DTV) reached in excess of 100 million homes (12%) worldwide in February 2004, according to a new report from Informa Media Group.

The TV International Sourcebook 2004 says that by the of this year, DTV homes will be in excess of 118.4 million, up by 22.2 million on the same period last year.

North America is expected to have the largest number of DTV households with over 56 million, representing over 48% of the global total, falling from 52% in 2003. The UK remains the only country with DTV reaching over half of total households; penetration is expected to reach 59% by the end of 2004.

Asia Pacific is expected to see the largest growth from 10 million DTV households in 2003, to over 18 million by the end of 2004.

Digital TV Households By Continent (000) 
     
  end 2003  end 2004 
Asia Pacific 10,419 18,064
Europe 31,878 39,506
Latin America 3,880 4,458
North America 50,051 56,370
Total  96,228  118,398 
     
Source: Informa Media Group, April 2004 
Top 10 Digital TV Penetration By Country* (end 2004) 
   
Country  Digital TV Penetration (%) 
UK 59
USA 47
Canada 42
Ireland 39
New Zealand 36
Malaysia 36
Sweden 35
Norway 34
Hong Kong 32
Finland 27
*The % of TV households taking digital signals
   
Source: Inform Media Group, April 2004 

Currently, DTH/DBS supplies 51% of total households however, digital cable is gaining ground fast, adding 12.5 million homes in 2004 to bring its total to 47 million (40%). Digital cable is expected to overtake digital DTH/DBS platforms such as Sky Digital in 2005. Digital terrestrial television is expected to increase its numbers by 67% and likely to benefit in the UK from free services such as Freeview says the report.

Digital TV Households By Delivery Platform (000) 
     
  end 2003  end 2004 
Digital Terrestrial (DTT) 5551 9291
Digital Cable 34707 47230
Digital Satellite (DTH/DBS) 55291 60464
DSL Entertainment 679 1412
Total  96228  118397 
     
Source: Inform Media Group, April 2004 

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