Various HD formats will reach as many as 148 million households across the world by 2011--driven largely by DBS, albeit mostly outside the United States--according to a new study issued by IMS Research.
IMS concludes that satellite, “will hold its position as the most prevalent way of receiving HDTV broadcasts” globally with slightly more than 40 percent of the projected market in four years. And while cable continues to claim about three times as many households as DBS in America, IMS does expect growth in satellite HD households to be driven by the United States and Western Europe, according to Web site HDTV UK.
In Western Europe, DBS is the most common method of pay-per-view HD, where the transition to digital cable is progressing very slowly.
IMS predicts Western Europe will surpass Asia Pacific by the end of 2011 to become the world’s second-largest HD environment, after the United States.
