Dutch digital homes grow to over 4.4 million

The number of Dutch digital TV connections grew by 5.9%, or 245,800 net additions, in Q2 to 4.426 million, according to Telecompaper.

As the total number of TV connections decreased by 0.2% during the quarter to 7.96 million, digital TV increased its share of the entire TV market to 55.6%.

The paper expects the digital TV market to grow by an average 5% per quarter during the remainder of 2009. The increased digital TV penetration, as well as the economic downturn, will cause quarterly growth to slow from an average 5.6% in 2008.

The market researcher has also forecast the number of digital TV connections to reach the 5 million mark during the first quarter of 2010.

Ziggo is the largest provider on the digital TV market. The cable operator added 175,000 digital TV customers during the second quarter to end June with a base of 1.382 million, equivalent to a 31.2% market share. This was the largest quarterly growth since Ziggo was formed in 2007, driven by a major marketing campaign.

KPN became the third-largest digital TV provider in the Netherlands during the second quarter, ending June with 886,000 TV customers, or a market share of 20%. KPN passed satellite TV operator Canal Digitaal, which ended the quarter with 19% of the market.

UPC saw its share of the digital TV market decrease to 15.5%, despite adding 16,500 new digital TV customers during the quarter, to end with 687,000 as of June 30.