Austria: DVB-T the new standard

GfK Austria, Consumer Electronics

Although Set Top Boxes have become the second largest product group (20% of total CE turnover) within the last year and are still showing a respectable growth rate, the increase has slowed down and will continue to do so in the near future.

The reason for this is simply that the changeover to the digital terrestrial signal in Austria was completed in October 2007, which means that customers’ demand (at least for Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) boxes) will soon begin to slow down.

Following the introduction of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting with 3 channels in October 2006, the analogue signal was gradually turned off from West to East, with the final step taking place in Vienna at the end of October this year.

6 channels are now broadcasted via Digital Terrestrial TV. Nevertheless, many consumers decided to switch over to Satellite TV with its multitude of channels, which has also revitalised the market for DVB-S boxes.

The DVB-T trend has sparked sales in the Flat Screen TV market which showed a strong performance; accounting for 50% of total CE turnover in Austria. Almost every second model sold in October was equipped with an integrated DVB-T tuner.