[Satellite TODAY Insider 02-09-12] About 17.5 million German households were watching TV via satellite at the end of 2011, which puts satellite in the lead over cable as Germany’s most popular TV service, according to a TV Monitor report issued Feb. 8 by SES.

   Satellite gained 900,000 more viewers in 2011 than in the previous year, to overtake cable’s top position for the first time ever in the German market.

   Approximately 90 percent of German satellite households were on digital service, with about 1.8 million households still receiving analog. Germany’s final analog switch-off date is April 30. The number of German satellite households still watching analog TV dropped by 1.2 million. Additionally, about 5.9 million German satellite households watch television in HD, according to the report.

   SES’ annual TV Monitor report is carried out by market research company TNS Infratest. TNS said it conducted 6,000 interviews across Germany in November and December 2011. The firm’s European reach study will be presented in March. 

   While satellite enjoyed its best growth rates in years, cable lost about 900,000 households in 2011, which reduces the reach of German cable TV to 17.3 million. Digital terrestrial TV lost 180,000 households to bring its coverage total down to 1.8 million households. IPTV, however, continued to grow with an increase of 330,000 households to exceed the one million mark at 1.3 million households.

   SES CCO Ferdinand Kayser called the report a considerable milestone for its Astra and DTH satellite reception platforms in Germany. “The phenomenal results show that more and more TV viewers acknowledge the advantages of satellite reception,” Kayser said in a statement. “In only two years, we were able to increase our reach by 1.3 million households. We are confident that we will be able to develop further significant momentum until the definitive technical switch-over from analog to digital satellite transmission taking place in April.”