8.2m Italian homes receive TV via Eutelsat
April 19, 2013
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Eutelsat Communications has revealed the results of its survey on TV reception in Italy, conducted with Ipsos, which reveals that 8 million households are equipped with satellite dishes that are pointed at its satellites.
The Hot Bird satellites, which are provide multichannel reception in Italy, are being received by 7.3 million homes, an increase of about 200.000 families in the past two years. The remaining 700.000 homes watch satellite TV through other Eutelsat orbital positions. More than nine out of ten households equipped for satellite reception in Italy are serviced by a Eutelsat satellite.
Currently 378 Italian TV channels are broadcast via the Eutelsat Hot Bird orbital position, including the pay-TV platform of Sky Italia which has a subscriber base of 4.8 million. A total of 2.4 million homes receive free-to-air channels, of which 1.5 million are equipped to receive the TivùSat DTH platform.
Out of a base of 24.7 million TV households, one out of three have opted to receive free-to-air or pay-TV channels via satellite. An estimated 16 million homes receive TV via terrestrial transmitters (DTT), while 250.000 homes, mostly in urban areas, subscribe to IPTV.