Eutelsat’s satellites now account for multichannel viewing in 8.2 million – or one in three – Italian homes, according to the first results of a new survey on TV reception modes and trends across its global footprint.
Undertaken by the operator in conjunction with Ipsos, it found that Eutelsat’s Hot Bird satellites accounted for 7.3 million homes, representing a gain of over 200,000 in 24 months, with the remaining 700,000 being served by other Eutelsat neighbourhoods, led by Eutelsat 16A, Eutelsat 9A and Eutelsat West A.
All told, over nine out of ten homes in Italy are now served by a Eutelsat satellite.
Hot Bird carries 378 Italian channels, with the Sky Italia pay-TV platform having a subscriber base of 4.8 million at the position, with three out of four watching over 50 HD channels.
A total of 2.4 million Italian homes watch FTA channels, with over 1.5 million being equipped for DTH reception of the satellite DTT platform TivuSat, up from 1.3 million since ASO in July last year.
Italy has a total of 24.7 million TV homes, with one in three watching pay or FTA channels via DTH.
Sixteen million watch terrestrial TV and 250,000 IPTV services.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Jean-François Leprince-Ringuet, Eutelsat’s CCO, said: “Satellite continues to make inroads in Italy’s digital broadcasting landscape and we believe that the move to higher quality in the form of HD, 3D and for the future, 4K, will further consolidate its place as a core infrastructure. Our new survey reveals that Eutelsat’s satellites, our investments and our partnership models enable broadcasters to optimise their reach across Italy and enable viewers to benefit from both choice and quality.”
