IP & TV Forum – ISTANBUL. Digital TV is booming in Turkey, with the country already boasting seven platforms and more on the way. However, HD penetration is much lower than expected and the prospects for 3D are poor.
In a wide-ranging presentation on the Turkish market, Yaman Alpata, CMO of Sinema TV, said that in 2005 the country had only one digital platform, namely the DTH operation Digiturk. Today, it has a further DTH service (D-Smart), as well as Teledunya (digital cable), IPTivibu (IPTV) and Digiturk web TV, Tivibu and Superplay (all web TV).
On the other hand, despite the sale of 8 million HD-enabled TV sets to date, only 5% (150,000) of Turkey’s 3 million pay-TV subscribers actually watch HD services. Furthermore, the sale of 3D sets has stopped, with the figure having reached 25,000.
Speaking about his own company, Alpata said that Sinema was launched in 2008 and currently operates eight premium movie channels, five of which employ the Sinema TV brand and two FilmClub. Of these, five are in HD.
Sinema’s channels are carried on all digital platforms with the exception of Digiturk and currently have a total of 400,000 subscribers.
