[Satellite News 09-2208] The Americas region, driven principally by the United States, continues to lead the globe in terms of demand for high-definition (HD) TV services, while Japanese consumers are leading uptake of the service in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a study by IMS Research.
    “The Americas region leads the world in demand for HDTV services with an estimated 20 million households receiving HD programming at the end of 2007, 37 percent of which were satellite,” Shane Walker, a broadcast analyst at IMS Research and author of “The Worldwide Market for High-Definition TV Equipment and Services – 2008 Edition.”
    Adoption in other regions around the globe remain mixed. “The main driver behind adoption of HD programming and HDTV products in the Asia-Pacific region has been Japan’s progressive strategy of introducing HD via satellite and then following with digital terrestrial television,” said Walker. “HDTV service and product adoption has been relatively slow in Europe compared to that of the Americas, but it is likely that the region will experience a significant increase in HDTV service uptake during the next five years.”
    While satellite players such as Dish Network and DirecTV in the United States and BSkyB in the United Kingdom lead the way in terms of bringing HD services to consumers, other players are making inroads. DirecTV Latin America “is positioning itself well in Latin America, specifically in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico,” said Walker. DirecTV Latin America’s “relationship with DirecTV US is expected to be a key strength as Sky Brazil, PanAmericana and Sky Mexico are in the process of aligning set-top box specifications and middleware technology with that of DirecTV US. The HD service will significantly impact the number of potential HDTV households. However, the Latin American HDTV market will continue to remain a small percentage of the region’s TV households.”
    Other satellite pay-TV operators showing growth in HD operations are Starchoice in Canada, SkyLife in Hong Kong, SkyPerfecTV in Japan and CanalSat in France.
    By 2013. about 28 percent of digital TV households will be watching HD programming, said Walker, and HD DVR shipments represent 55.3 percent of all HD box shipments for 2007. “IMS Research forecasts a doubling of HDTV households between 2010 and 2013 in both the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. At the end of 2013, HD DTH households are forecast to be 43.6 percent of all HD households in these two regions with HD non-broadcast video households accounting for 13 percent.”
    Over the next two years, Walker expects to see HD become more of the mainstream in terms of pay-TV packages. “There will be expanding HD channel offerings across all platforms,” he said. “North America will see packages with well over 100 HD channels. Many markets in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions will see channel offerings similar to what North American operators are currently offering.”
    In terms of the competition between satellite and other infrastructures for the delivery of HD services, “The satellite platform typically leads other platforms in all regions when it comes to the amount of HD content being broadcast,” said Walker. “This, combined with the rapid transition to digital households, has provided a competitive advantage during the early stages of HDTV adoption. Of course, many large cable operators are quickly catching up and IPTV operators have plans to do the same.”