European viewers have surprisingly different expectations of Ultra HD services.
Discussing the findings of a Eutelsat study on consumer awareness and reactions to Ultra HD/4k in seven key European markets, Claudia Vaccarone, head of market research & customer experience at the satellite operator, said that in terms of investment, those receiving pay-TV services would be willing to pay a dedicated subscription plus €4 for VOD.
On the other other hand, FTA viewers would be willing to pay €7 per movie.
Meanwhile, in Germanypay-TV viewers would be willing to pay a maximum of €30 a month, while FTA views would pay €1-2 per VOD title.
In France, FTA viewers would be willing to pay a similar amount to those in Germany, while pay-TV ones would only part with €3-10 a month.
In Poland, all pay-TV users would be willing to pay €2.50 a month on top of their current offer, while in Russia the figure was €1-5 a month.
There was unanimity in terms of preferred screen size – no one wanted more than 50 inches – and, relatively speaking, screen price, with the very maximum viewers willing to pay (€5,700) being in the UK.
With format, FTA viewers by and large stated a preference for pay-per-view, those in Poland liked the idea of one premium dedicated channel or linear bundle and in Turkey a dedicated channel with a free TV set.
For pay-TV viewers, there was mostly a split between a preference for linear and subscription Ultra HD/4k services.
The study was undertaken in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and Turkey in cooperation with TNS and Samsung.
It consisted of two campaigns, the first in 2014 focused on London, Paris, Milan, Cologne and Warsaw and the second in 2015 in Warsaw, Moscow and Istanbul.
There were two groups per country, each with 8-10 participants, with one group being pay-TV subscribers and the other FTA viewers.
