SES ASTRA has revealed that, according to its most recent annual reach study, 83% of the satellite TV households in Europe and North Africa are digitalised. This is more than four times more than in cable, where an average 20% of all households are digital, writes Andy Stout.
Of the 239 million analogue and digital TV households counted across the examined 35 countries in Europe and North Africa, nearly 100 million are digital out of which 56.8 million are digital satellite households. 41.1 million of these homes receive digital services directly from ASTRA or SIRIUS satellites. Over 99% of European satellite TV channels are digital and satellite accounts for 58% of all digital households
Overall the combined satellite systems of SES ASTRA and SES SIRIUS serve 117.2 million analogue and digital homes in Europe and North Africa. 50.3 million of these homes receive their signals directly from ASTRA or SIRIUS satellites (DTH). The other 66.9 million homes receive signals through a satellite feed to cable head-ends.
The SES ASTRA Satellite Monitor is conducted annually by leading market research institutes in the respective countries and on behalf of SES ASTRA. For the monitoring, more than 70,000 telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted all over Europe at the end of last year. The methodology and the results are controlled by independent institutes.
“Our new Satellite Monitor clearly confirms that satellite is leading the digitalisation across Europe and remains the most attractive digital reception mode,” said Alexander Oudendijk, chief commercial officer of SES ASTRA. “Satellite remains one of the fastest growing TV infrastructures and has increased its reach over the last five years across the 35 countries that we measure by 50%. The ASTRA and SIRIUS satellites have again proven to be the leading European system for direct TV reception.”
