In its latest round-up of the global satellite market, SES has revealed solid growth over the last 12 months, driven by strong uptake of HDTV, especially in Europe.
Overall SES now covers 312 million homes worldwide, an increase of 7% compared with the end of 2013, and now reaches out to 1.1 billion people worldwide with its services. Of the 312 million homes, 125 million are serviced on a DTH basis, 149 million to cable headends and just over 38 million via IPTV. The direct reach from the SES fleet to satellites TV homes grew from 106 million in 2013 to 125 million worldwide in 2014. While the reach in cable slightly dipped slightly by 3% and the number of IPTV homes fed from SES satellites increased by 21% year-on-year.
The research also showed that growth was coming from emerging markets of Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, where SES reaches seven million, 44 million and 24 million homes respectively. Household reach increased in North America to 84 million while in Europe, the strongest SES market in terms of direct reach, it was 154 million homes.
Satellite was found to be the most widespread mode of TV reception in Europe, reaching over 90 million homes directly. With over 64 million SES satellite homes, SES is serving the vast majority of these homes. Germany remains the largest DTH market for SES, with 18 million homes reached by ASTRA, while France remains by far the biggest IPTV market – with now almost 11 million homes, of which nine million are indirectly served by ASTRA.
The figures also confirmed the HD expansion in Europe, with 47 million satellite homes watching HD in 2014, compared to 38 million the previous year. Of these, just over three-quarter (77%) of European satellites homes were watching HD from SES satellites. At the end of 2014, SES transmitted more than 6,500 TV channels, over 1,800 of them in HD globally. The UK had the highest percentage of HDTV customers.
The SES Satellite Monitor also showed a growing awareness of Ultra HD services. In France 34% of the sample in the research said they were aware of 4/Ultra HD and 3% owned a 4KTV set. In Germany this ratio was 44% and 1%; Spain 26% and 3%, and the UK, 39% and 4%.
This article was originally published at http://www.rapidtvnews.com