While German satellite broadcasting platforms enjoyed healthy growth, the country’s cable TV reception rates continued to decline from 17.3 million households in December 2011 to 17 million households in the first half of 2012. By contrast, digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T) seemed to benefit from Germany’s analog switch-off, reaching 2 million households by June 30 – a modest bump from the 1.8 million households reported in December 2011. Domestic Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service providers increased their reach to serve 1.4 million households by 2012’s halfway mark, compared to 1.3 million in December 2011.

   The Satellite Monitor report is based research on conducted by market research company TNS Infratest on behalf of FSS operator SES. TNS conducted 8,000 interviews across Germany in May 2012. The study also was conducted in cooperation with the broadcasting institutions in Germany’s federal states.

   “The overall number of TV households in Germany increased slightly to 38 million, which was up from 37.9 million at the end of December,” TSN analysts wrote in the report. “High definition TV (HDTV) continues on its growth path, with 7.2 million households, or 41 percent of all satellite households served in Germany watching HD content. At the end of last year, HDTV reached 5.9 million households, which is about 34 percent of all German satellite households.”

   SES CCO Ferdinand Kayser said the results are extremely encouraging for Germany’s satellite market, especially considering the transition following the nation’s analog switch-off. “Satellite is more popular than ever in Germany,” Kayser said in a statement. “The reason for our growth is simply that consumers value the benefits of linear satellite TV, combining unique picture quality with a large variety of channels. With new product initiatives like Sat-over-IP (Sat>IP), we will enable the reception of satellite TV on IP-based devices and thereby contribute to developing even further the capabilities of satellite, the most popular reception mode, for the benefit of all its current and future users.”