Europe to head digital take up by 2006

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The US is seen by many observers the largest and most competitive, digital TV market in the world today. However, a new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor, 'Digital TV Markets 2004', says that by 2006 Europe, with 63 million digital households, will represent a larger digital TV market than the US. Datamonitor expects this European number to grow to 89 million by the end of 2008, close to triple that of 31 million at the end of 2003. Penetration of digital TV in the UK is the highest in the world. The report also pointed out that technology will lead the competition between operators.

On both sides of the Atlantic, cable, satellite and terrestrial TV operators will seek to differentiate their services through technology. In the US Datamonitor expects HDTV, VOD and PVRs to be the weapons of choice. The cable operators will try to offer a superior service by offering all three technologies, while the satellite operators will focus on HDTV and PVRs.

In Europe, Datamonitor does not expect VOD to be a driving force, because of the poor cable infrastructure and lack of investment in new equipment, nor will HDTV, resulting from the high price points of the necessary consumer equipment. Instead, PVRs will become more prevalent.

IPTV, which has recently experienced a spate of launches in Europe, such as MaLigne tv in France and Imagenio in Spain, could yet rise to become a measurable competitor to the three traditional broadcast mediums. To date, these IPTV services are typically offering VOD and some content from the local pay-TV operator over a DSL line. Although an interesting alternative, pricing and content might limit demand in the near-term, suggests the report.