In the United States, 17 million households with HDTVs installed do not watch HD programming, according to a new study from research organization In-Stat.
Last year, there were 39 million households in the United States that owned HDTVs, of which 22 million are considered HDTV households or those owning HD-capable sets and receiving and watching HD programming.
The research, “Worldwide HDTV Households: 36 Million and Growing,” confirms a trend others studying the HD landscape have documented over the past few years: there remains a sizable gap between the number of households with HDTVs and those that receive and watch HD programming. According to In-Stat, while the gap remains, last year saw a 40 percent uptake in the number of households choosing to receive HD programming.
In-Stat also found:
- Globally, HDTV service remains limited to a small number of countries, primarily the United States and Japan.
- At year-end 2008, there were more than 36 million HDTV households worldwide, up from 29 million at year-end 2007.
- Even though the number of European HDTV households is rising, it will be 2011 before the number of HDTV households in the region reaches the 10 million mark.
- Cable and satellite TV services provide HD programming to almost 80 percent of all HDTV households. Telco TV service providers and terrestrial broadcast TV service providers provide service to the remaining HDTV households.
For more information, visit www.instat.com.
