Flying start for hybrid TV sales in Germany

German consumers are happy to buy hybrid TV sets, according to the consumer electronics association GFU. During the month of October some 300,000 hybrid sets were sold, or 20% of the total sales volume.

With these figures, Germany seems to adopt the new technology very fast. “Hybrid TV represents a significant growth potential for our industry,” said Dr. Rainer Hecker, Chairman of GFU, in a statement. Dr. Heckers stresses the importance of a single standard, which “creates a consistent basis for all market participants.” The GFU fully supports the HbbTV standard.

There are already a wide variety of hybrid sets available in Germany, including Philips Net TV, Yahoo Widgets on Samsung sets, Panasonic’s VieraCast, AppliCast and Sharp’s Aquos Net. However, these sets are (partly) using proprietary systems. During the month of November, the first HbbTV equipped sets will hit the German shops.

Broadcasters are also happy to launch the new HbbTV services including ARD, ZDF and RTL. At the moment, some 100 online content partners of the various devices bring streaming videos to selected TV sets.