Three quarters of Dutch TV connections are digital

HOUTEN, The Netherlands — The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 4.2 percent during the third quarter of 2011 to 5.97 million on 30 September 2011, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Television Subscribers report.

The total includes 3.37 million cable TV subscribers who have an analogue TV connection as well. Digital TV increased its share of the entire TV market to 75 percent. Ziggo was the largest digital TV provider, winning some market share, followed by KPN, UPC and CanalDigitaal. Most consumers receive digital TV via cable networks: cable accounted for almost 57 percent of digital TV connections in Q3, after winning market share during the quarter. Terrestrial and satellite were second and third, both losing market share. IPTV and FTTH were able to increase their share of the digital TV market, ending the quarter as the fourth and fifth largest technologies.

“After 15 percent annual growth in 2010, we expect the number of digital TV connections to grow by another 13 percent in 2011,” said Telecompaper analyst and report author Kamiel Albrecht. “This will lead to a total of around 6.1 million digital TV connections at the end of this year.”

The digital TV growth is driven by an increasing number of operators offering triple-play services, such as Vodafone offering these services via FTTH networks. Another driver is so-called ‘second screen’ TV services, enabling consumers to watch TV via their tablets, PCs or laptops. KPN introduced such a service in September, and both Ziggo and UPC are expected to enhance their current iPhone and iPad apps with similar services.