SURVEYING THE SATELLITE AND CABLE TV LANDSCAPE
A recent Eutelsat survey illustrates how satellite and cable are now the
preferred choice for multi-channel reception
Satellite and cable homes
have passed the tipping
point of 50% of TV homes
across Europe, North Africa
and the Middle East and
Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™
video neighbourhood has
consolidated its audience
into 121 million homes.
Eutelsat’s recent survey of satellite and
cable homes, published in February,
confirmed the continuing strong dynamic
of satellite and cable reception in Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East, which
over the last 24 months has grown twice
as fast as television homes.
Over this period, satellite and cable
penetration has increased by 13% to
170 million homes from 150 million, while
television homes expanded by six per cent
to 333 million homes from 314 million. This
means that satellite and cable reception have
passed the tipping point of 50% of television
homes. North Africa and the Middle East
continue to show the strongest traction,
progressing by 10% each year. 59% of TV homes in western Europe are connected to cable or satellite (compared to 58% in 2004), 60% in North Africa and the Middle East (compared to 54% in 2004) and 33% in eastern Europe (compared to 31% in 2004).
Commissioned from leading research institutes
including GfK, TNS Sofres and Ipsos, the
new data produced in 42 countries* also
confirmed the leadership of Eutelsat’s HOT
BIRD™ neighbourhood, whose audience at
the end of 2006 showed impressive growth to
121 million homes from 111 million.
Forty per cent (47.5 million) of these homes are
equipped for direct-to-home (DTH) reception,
with the most dynamic DTH markets being Italy,
which expanded by 280,000 satellite homes,
and Poland which expanded by 211,000
satellite homes. In cable markets, eastern
Europe drove the expansion of HOT BIRD™ penetration, with an increase of more than
30% to 22.5 million homes, driven by ongoing
deployment of new cable infrastructure.
Satellite and cable homes at the HOT BIRD™
neighbourhood (in millions of homes)
The new research also recorded strong
uptake of satellite and cable homes receiving
channels from six other video neighbourhoods,
which Eutelsat has actively developed for
specific regions and language markets:
EUROBIRD™ 1 (UK, Ireland), W2 (central
Europe), W3A (Turkey), W4 (Russia, Ukraine),
ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 (satellite homes in France)
and ATLANTIC BIRD™ 4 which is collocated
with Nilesat and serves satellite homes in North
Africa and the Middle East.
With the combined audience of these
neighbourhoods and the HOT BIRD™
neighbourhood, channels broadcast by
Eutelsat’s video satellites are received by 164
million satellite and cable homes. This does not include emerging Digital Terrestrial
Television (DTT) audiences in markets where
satellites are feeding DTT retransmitters
and providing complementary direct-to-home
coverage.
Other headline results
Of the 170 million satellite/cable homes in
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa:
• 49% of satellite/cable homes are
equipped for digital reception, i.e. 84
million homes (33% growth between
2004 and 2006);
• 39.2 million satellite/cable homes
subscribe to digital pay-TV (9% growth
between 2004 and 2006);
• Homes subscribing to digital pay-TV
split between 29.3 million satellite homes
and 9.9 million cable homes.
* Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
* Central and eastern Europe: Belarus, BiH , Bulgaria, Croatia,
Czech Rep., Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
* North Africa, Middle East: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey
