ESIS - Information society indicators

	Information Society indicators in the Member States of the EU
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3. Television
3.1 TV sets penetration
At the end of 1999, the average number of television sets per 100 inhabitants in the EU was equal to 39.

The penetration of TV sets is higher within Northern countries and tends to be lower in southern countries. The penetration rate by country is mainly correlated with factors such as purchasing power, cable penetration, the policy of suppliers (incentives), etc.

Graph 48 : Number of TV sets per 100 inh. End 1999

3.2 Cable TV
3.2.1 Cable TV networks roll out in European Union
The roll out of Cable TV access is of course related to the proportion of homes that are passed by cable; they are physically connected to a cable TV network, but are not necessarily subscribers to cable. The number of homes passed by cable represents the whole potential target market of cable operators.

The nature of the roll out of Cable networks is very different depending on the country concerned:

Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are countries where cable networks are the most widespread; the homes passed by cable by the total number of households ratio ranging from 90 to 96 % : i.e. the highest percentages in the world.

Again the inhabitants of northern countries are more likely to use cable services than southern countries. The homes passed by cable by the total number of households ratio ranging from 51% to 68%.

Lastly, southern countries are largely less cable connected with ratios ranging from 3 to 44% (Information on Italy is not available but cable is marginal).

Graph 49 : Cable TV networks roll out : homes passed by cable / total number of households

3.2.2 Cable TV penetration
Cable TV penetration (share of cable TV households subscribers on homes passed by cable) is widespread in northern countries, but less so in southern countries. The reason why the United Kingdom is an exception to this trend is due to its leading place in satellite penetration.

Three tendencies emerge :

Historically, cable penetration is very weak in Greece, UK, Portugal, France, Spain and Italy : from 11 to 38% penetration,

Ireland, Austria, Finland, Germany and Luxembourg have between 62 and 79% penetration,

Lastly, 91% and 95% penetration in Belgium and Luxembourg : i.e. among the highest in the world.

The development of the Internet on cable should boost cable penetration in the short term.

Graph 50 : Cable penetration : cable TV households subscribers / homes passed

3.2.3 Satellite TV
Again we can notice that northern countries are the largest satellite TV subscribers.

Note that UK and Denmark are the largest EU satellite TV subscribers. This explains the low cable penetration in UK.

Similarly, the low rates in Belgium and the Netherlands can be explained by their large cable penetration.

Graph 51 : Number of homes equipped with satellite / Number of TV sets

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All data have been collected from readily available public sources of information (annual reports and publications by regulatory bodies, professional associations, operators, etc.). This is not a scientific document, but rather seeks to identify the key trends. To this end, where necessary, estimations have been made.

Additional data and information sources are available in the country reports that can be found on the ESIS Knowledge Base (http://www.ispo.cec.be/esis).