Advanced Television

Italian DTT 82% penetration

May 19, 2011

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Since the beginning of 2011, more than 1 million new households have installed a stand-alone DTT box in their home, while nearly 2.8 million DTT receivers (including integrated TVs and decoders) have been sold.

Of the total receivers sold between January and March, about 62 per cent (1.7 million) are integrated, 33 per cent are so-called “zappers” or basic models (920,000), while the remaining 5 per cent are of the MHP type.

According to research published E-Res, at the end of March the number of Italian households equipped to receive DTT (at least one receiver in the primary residence) rose to 20.43 million, an increase of 220,000 units compared to February and by about 945,000 since the beginning of 2011. As a result, DTT penetration stood at 82 per cent of total Italian households.

The cumulative number of DTT receivers sold since February 2004 reached 49.78 million. Of these, 21.6 million are integrated (43.5 per cent of the total) and the remaining 28.1 million (56.5 per cent) are external.

According to industry association DGTVi, DTT is the dominant digital TV platform, with 62.6 per cent of total TV consumption; followed by satellite (free + pay) that has 16 per cent. Over the past year, the use of DTT has grown by 66 per cent, compared with a 9 per cent growth for satellite/DTH.

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