anga_anga 10/05/2014 13:02 Page 4
Digital pay-TV booms
in Eastern Europe
he number of digital pay-TV
subscribers in Eastern Europe
will increase from 26.1 million
(21.5% of TV households) in 2010 to
45.0m (36.6%) in 2013 and onto 73.6m
(58.2%) by 2020, according to a report Digital TV Eastern Europe - from
Digital TV Research.
As Eastern Europe crawls out of recession,
the number of digital TV homes will triple
between 2010 and 2020; up from 41.0m to
124.7m. From the 52.3m digital TV homes to
be added between 2013 and 2020, DTT will
supply 24.9m, digital cable 15.3m, IPTV 6.6m
and pay satellite TV 5.8m.
The report states that digital TV penetration crossed the halfway mark of TV households in 2012, up from a third at end-2010.
Fast take-up will push digital TV penetration
to two-thirds by end-2014 and onto 98.5% by
2020. Thirteen of the 21 countries covered in
this report will be completely digital by 2020,
with Estonia the first to full conversion – in
2012.
The number of analogue terrestrial TV
households halved between 2010 and 2013;
leaving 23.2m. Only 11.9m DTT homes were
added, therefore the digital pay TV platforms
benefited from the analogue terrestrial homes
converting to digital. However, 24.9m DTT
homes will be added between 2013 and 2020,
with all of the remaining 23.2m analogue terrestrial homes lost, so pay TV operators will
gain less from terrestrial TV.
Report author Simon Murray noted that
with the proportion of terrestrial homes set-
T
Commission probes
Liberty Ziggo deal
As expected, the European
Commission has opened an
in-depth investigation into
the proposed acquisition of
Dutch cable operator Ziggo
by Liberty Global.
Liberty Global - through
its subsidiary UPC - and
Ziggo both own cable networks in the Netherlands.
Both also operate a premium
pay-TV film channel there.
The EC has concerns that the
transaction may reduce competition in a number of markets.
6 ADVANCED-TELEVISION.COM
tling, much of the emphasis from pay TV players has fallen on the 27.5 million remaining
analogue cable subscribers. “Many of these
these homes,”he advised.
From the 83.6m digital TV homes to be
added across the region between 2010 and
2020, Russia will contribute 40.7m, with the
Ukraine increasing by 13.3m and Poland 6.7m.
Pay-TV revenues in Eastern Europe will be
48% higher in 2020 ($7