For the first time more Germans are now watching television via satellite than over cable.
At the end of 2011, 17.5 million households were watching TV via satellite, almost 900,000 more than in the previous year. Of these 90% were tuned into digital signals, leaving 1.8 million homes on analogue.
The figures, prepared by the market research company TNS Infratest for satellite operator SES as part of its annual TV monitor, showed cable had lost 900,000 homes to 17.3 million.
Digital terrestrial TV lost 180,000 households, bringing its coverage down to 1.8 million. IPTV has continued to grow; with an increase of 330,000 households, IPTV exceeded the million mark, reaching 1.3 million.
Ferdinand Kayser, chief commercial officer, SES said: “The new TV Monitor reveals a historical quantum leap for ASTRA and Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite reception in Germany. In only two years, we were able to increase our reach by 1.3 million households. We are confident that we will be able to develop further significant momentum until the definitive technical switch-over from analogue to digital satellite transmission taking place on 30 April 2012.”
The forthcoming analogue switchoff took on a considerable momentum during the course of 2011. The number of German satellite households still watching analogue TV dropped by 1.2 million between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 to reach a figure of 1.8 million.
In the first half of 2011, the number of analogue satellite households dropped by more than 400,000, while in the second half nearly 800,000 made the switch to digital.
Analogue satellite switchoff will take place in Germany on April 30, 2012.
