KPN becomes second largest Dutch digital TV provider

HOUTEN, The Netherlands — The number of Dutch digital TV connections grew by 5.9 percent or 245,800 net additions during the second quarter, to a total 4.426 million on 30 June 2009, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Television Subscribers report. As the total number of TV connections decreased by 0.2 percent during the quarter to 7.96 million, digital TV increased its share of the entire TV market to 55.6 percent.

“We expect the digital TV market to grow by an average 5% per quarter during the remainder of 2009,” said Telecompaper senior analyst and report author Kamiel Albrecht. “The increased digital TV penetration as well as the economic downturn will cause quarterly growth to slow from an average 5.6 percent in 2008.” Telecompaper expects the number of digital TV connections to reach the 5 million mark during the first quarter of 2010.

On the digital TV market, Ziggo is the largest provider. The cable operator added 175,000 digital TV customers during the second quarter to end June 2009 with a base of 1.382 million, good for a 31.2 percent market share. This was the largest quarterly growth since Ziggo was formed in 2007, driven by a major marketing campaign. KPN became the second largest digital TV provider in the Netherlands during the second quarter, ending June with 886,000 TV customers, equal to a market share of 20 percent. KPN passed satellite TV operator Canal Digitaal, which ended the quarter with 19 percent of the market. UPC saw its share of the digital TV market decrease to 15.5 percent, despite adding 16,500 new digital TV customers during the quarter to end with 687,000 on 30 June 2009.

RTV2902 / Dutch Digital Television Q2 2009 is a research product from Telecompaper. Price for 10 users is EUR 395.00. Single-user price for the report is EUR 195.00.