Netherlands ends 2012 with 6.375 million digital TV connections

Dutch consumer TV revenues reach EUR 372 million in Q4 2012

HOUTEN, The Netherlands — The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 1.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2012 to 6.375 million on 31 December 2012, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Television Subscribers report. The total includes 3.65 million cable TV subscribers who also have an analogue TV connection. Digital TV is now used by slightly more than 82 percent of TV subscribers in the Netherlands.

For the first time, Telecompaper estimated the retail revenues* for the consumer TV market; these amounted to EUR 372 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Retail revenue estimates will also be included in the upcoming report on the fixed telephony market and were added to the report on the broadband market (published on 12 March 2013).

Ziggo was the largest TV operator at the end of 2012, both in the total TV market and the digital TV market. KPN, UPC and CanalDigitaal followed in the rankings. Most consumers receive digital TV via cable networks. Cable accounted for 57.3 percent of digital TV subscribers in Q4, despite losing market share due to the growing adoption of IPTV over DSL and FTTH services. DSL became the second-largest technology on both the total and digital TV markets, passing terrestrial and satellite during the fourth quarter. Satellite was the third-largest technology on both markets, passing terrestrial, and fibre ranked fifth on both markets.

“The digital TV market grew 8.1 percent in 2012, slower than our forecast of 8.5 percent. As a result, we have lowered the growth outlook for 2013 to 7.5 percent,” said Telecompaper analyst and report author Kamiel Albrecht. “The total TV market is expected to grow slightly less than 1 percent over the same period.”

* 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.