Eutelsat Communications has announced headline results of its latest two-year survey of satellite and cable homes. Set up in 1994, the survey measures trends in satellite and cable reception in countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East served by Eutelsat’s key video neighbourhoods including its Hot Birdâ„¢ cvideo neighbourhood which this month broke the barrier of 1,000 digital channels.
Commissioned from leading research institutes including GfK, TNS Sofres and Ipsos, the new data produced in 42 countries revealed that satellite and cable homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East have expanded twice as fast over the last 24 months as the growth of television homes. Satellite and cable penetration increased by 13 per cent to 170 million homes from 150 million, while television homes expanded by six per cent to 333 million homes from 314 million. Satellite and cable reception has consequently passed the tipping point of 50 per cent of television homes.
The survey also revealed that, by the end of 2006, Eutelsat’s Hot Birdâ„¢ audience had progressed from 111 million to 121 million homes, of which 40 per cent (47.5 million) are equipped for Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite reception. This growth took place in parallel to a steady increase in channels broadcast which grew by 273 channels over the same period to over 1050 at end December 2006.
The most dynamic satellite markets for Direct-to-Home reception were Italy, which expanded by 280,000 satellite homes, and Poland which expanded by 211,000. In eastern Europe, as new cable infrastructure goes into place, the uptake of cable reception from the Hotg Birdâ„¢ neighbourhood was particularly dynamic, accounting for 22.5 million homes which represents an increase of more than 30 per cent.
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: Eurobirdâ„¢ 1 (UK, Ireland), W2 (central Europe), W3A (Turkey), W4 (Russia, Ukraine), Atlantic Birdâ„¢ 3 (satellite homes in France) and Atlantic Birdâ„¢ 4 which is co-located with Nilesat and serves satellite homes in North Africa and the Middle East.
With the combined audience of these neighbourhoods and the Hot Birdâ„¢ neighbourhood, channels broadcast by Eutelsat’s video satellites are received by 161 million satellite and cable homes, representing 94 per cent penetration of satellite and cable homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 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.
(Source: Eutelsat)
