The number of digital cable households in Germany currently amounts to 77.1%.
This corresponds with an increase by 6.4% within a year, according to the latest figures published by the media authorities in their new yearbook. The 80% mark usually forming the threshold for an analogue to digital transition will probably be reached this year, expect the regulators.
“These figures affirm DLM in its target to terminate analogue TV distribution on cable by 2018,” said Siegfried Schneider, chairman of the media authorities’ umbrella organisation DLM. “The analogue TV distribution uses up network capacities required with increasing urgency for HDTV and internet offers now and even more in future.”
DLM has assumed the role of coordinator during the transition period for the necessary exchange between TV broadcasters, cable operators and the housing industry.
In total, digital TV reception now accounts for more than 90% of the TV world: Around 34.3 million TV households in Germany use digital television on at least one device through one of the traditional reception platforms satellite, cable, DTT or IPTV, according the study results.
The media authorities and several industry associations have called for analogue switch-off on cable to take place by the end of 2018. Unitymedia will be the first German cable operator to terminate analogue TV carriage on its network on June 30, 2017.
