Dutch digital TV subscribers pass 4 million milestone

Houten, The Netherlands – 19 March 2009 – The total number of Dutch TV connections grew by 0.9 percent during the fourth quarter to 7.88 million on 31 December 2008. Year-on-year, the number of TV connections grew by almost 186,000, with digital TV growth clearly offsetting the drop in analogue TV connections, according to Telecompaper’s Dutch Television Market Q4 2008 report.

The number of digital TV connections grew by 5.2 percent or 200,100 net additions during the quarter to 4.014 million on 31 December 2008. At the same time, digital TV increased its share of the entire TV market to 50.9 percent, passing analogue TV as the most-used TV service. The TV connection penetration (TV subscriptions divided by the number of residential households as reported by the Dutch statistics office CBS) increased from 107.1 percent on 31 December 2007 to 108.9 percent on 31 December 2008. The penetration of digital TV on the Dutch cable networks continued to grow, ending December 2008 at 34.8 percent of users compared with 26.3 percent at the end of 2007.

“The digital TV market is expected to grow by between 4 and 5 percent per quarter in 2009, reaching the 5 million subscribers mark in 2010,” said Telecompaper analyst Kamiel Albrecht. “Growth will slow from an average of 5.6% per quarter in 2008, due to the increased digital TV penetration as well as the economic downturn.”

On the digital TV market, Ziggo is the largest provider, after adding 72,000 customers during the fourth quarter to end 2008 with 1.15 million digital TV customers. Satellite TV operator Canal Digitaal continued to lose market share in digital TV, as its quarterly growth of around 2.4 percent was lower than the market average of 5.6 percent. The company ended the year with 825,000 customers. KPN reported a quarterly growth of 10.7 percent to reach 775,000 subscribers on 31 December 2008, including 40,000 IPTV customers. Its digital TV market share grew 3.9 percent during the quarter to 19.3 percent. UPC saw its share of the digital TV market decrease to 16.2 percent, despite winning 28,800 net additions during the fourth quarter to reach 649,000. Tele2 is the fifth-largest digital TV provider with 4.7 percent of the market or around 190,000 customers, after winning 0.1 percentage points during the quarter.

Editorial note

Telecompaper

Telecompaper is an independent research company. We publish the latest information about the global telecom industry and provide our international customers with need-to-know information and market insight via news feeds, newsletters, research and advisory services. Telecompaper has its main office in Houten (Netherlands ). The company was established in June 2000. More information on the report can be found at: http://www.telecompaper.com/reports/reportdetails.aspx?cid=R663354