The digitization of the European television market advances with a remarkable pace. According to the latest data from e-Media Institute, more than 14 % of all European households have already switched to a digital reception mode since 2008 .
Most of them have been upgrading to digital terrestrial television (DTT), but the introduction of IPTV services has been also enjoying growing popularity across the continent. IPTV operations have turned into success stories into Central and Eastern Europe, with Croatian, Hungarian, Chech and Slovakian Telecoms almost doubling the number of IPTV subsribers.
The significant contribution of public service broadcasters to the digital growth in Europe has also been particularly stressed upon. According to the e-Media analysis, most free to air digital services on the leading European TV markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) are offered by public service broadcasters: a total amount of 45 channels.
Italian broadcaster RAI leads the chart by offering 13 digital channels, followed by ARD/ZDF (Germany) with 11 and BBC (UK) with 10.
The biggest digital TV-growth in the last year was marked by Portugal, with massive 48 % in comparison to 2008. Belgium and Greece are second and third on the list with respectively 40 and 38 % growth:
According to the digital switch-over plan of the European Commission, all EU countries are expected to abandon analogue services by the end of 2012. If they stick to that pace, this task will be more than possible.
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For further information: e-Media Institute
