Dutch digital TV subscribers grow to 6.6 million in Q3

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
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HOUTEN, The Netherlands — The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 1.0 percent during the third quarter of 2013 to 6.61 million on 30 September 2013. According to Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Television Market report, digital TV is now used by 85.3 percent of TV subscribers in the Netherlands, including 3.69 million cable subscribers who also have analogue TV connections.

Cable still accounted for over half (55.8%) of digital TV subscribers in Q3, despite losing market share due to the growing adoption of IPTV services over DSL and FTTH networks. DSL was the second most common way to receive TV, followed by satellite and terrestrial, which are both losing market share. FTTH, while growing its market share, remains in fifth place.

Ziggo was the largest TV provider at the end of the third quarter of 2013, both in the total TV market and the digital TV market. KPN, UPC and CanalDigitaal followed in the rankings.

“The digital TV market is expected to grow by around 5 percent during 2013 to 6.69 million connections at year-end,” said Telecompaper analyst and report author Kamiel Albrecht. “While growth is slowing somewhat at the cable operators, the DSL and fibre providers continue to increase their TV customer numbers.”

Telecompaper estimates the retail revenues* for the consumer TV market totaled EUR 394 million in the third quarter of 2013, little changed compared to the second quarter of the year. The number of connections on the total TV market is expected to grow 0.2 percent over the full year 2013.

* The reported retail revenues include revenues from basic TV subscriptions (digital/analogue), pay-TV services and video-on-demand service. These exclude revenues from installation fees and set-top box sales. Due to continuous improvements in our calculations, the numbers in this press release cannot directly be compared with numbers from earlier press releases sent out by Telecompaper on previous studies of the Dutch television market.