Dutch incumbent KPN is actively promoting its IPTV service among its DTT customers by increasing the DVB-T subscription price to above the basic IPTV fee.
On July 1, KPN will add another €1.50 a month to the Digitenne subscription, bring the monthly fee to €14, which is higher than the basic IPTV cost. However, in order to subscribe to KPN IPTV service, people also need to buy broadband access from the telecom operator.
Digitenne currently offers 30 channels in DVB-T/MPEG2 standard compared with 60 channels (including 20 HD channels) of the basic IPTV offer.
The total number of DTT customers continues to decline. In Q1, 2010, Digitenne had 885,000 subs; in Q3, 2011 the number stood at 874,000, while a year later, in Q3, 2012, the total was 778,000. In Q3, 2013 there were 638,000 paying DTT homes; and the most current figure is 479,000 at the end of Q1, 2015.
Broadband TV Views. KPN holds the spectrum licences for Digitenne until January 31 2017, but no decision has been taken yet on the period thereafter. KPN is selling the Digitenne service as an addition to its IPTV service, but it now looks like the company is preparing to abandon the DTT service by gently moving its customers to the IPTV service.
KPN started Digitenne to acquire TV market share by positioning the DTT service as a cheap alternative to cable, initial pricing was set as low as €6.50 a month. Last year, KPN already upped the monthly fee to €12.50 and is now more than doubling its original subscription price.
Digitenne’s main selling point has been portable reception, but the new KPN PLay service is now offering nationwide reception of most channels a large number of devices using WiFi and 4G technology,
In addition, the Dutch public broadcasters, both national and regional, transmit their signals over the DTT network free-to-air.
