Germans viewers are gradually switching from a cable connection to satellite DTH reception or IPTV, according to research by Communication Networks 14.0 on behalf of Focus magazine.
The percentage of cable connections in Germany has been declining continuously since 2005. Cable is still the dominant means of TV reception, but its share dropped from 57.6% in 2005 to 52.7% this year. Instead, people seem to be switching to satellite reception. DTH penetration rose fro 41.2% (2005) to 45.7% (2010).
IPTV is also enjoying a growing popularity with its share rising from 3.2% in 2007 to 5.4% in 2010. According to Focus, about 14 million homes still rely on analogue and 62% of all households have access to digital television.
The Focus market-media study was conducted among 21,681 participants, who were asked about their TV reception equipment. These figures are more positive about digital homes as compared with research by GfK, which estimates 46.1% digital penetration among German households.
It is our take that we should interpret these Focus figures with some caution, as they rely on self assessment by the people interviewed. One more figure states that the number of people with a set-top box has grown from 9.2% to 17.1%. It is, however, not clear what kind of STB this concerns.
On the other hand, the study does confirm figures from cable operators who are reporting an overall decline in the number of subscribers.
