EU DSO complete in 22 nations
March 11, 2013
Twenty-two of the European Union’s 27 members have now completed digital switchover, as have the non-EU European states Croatia, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, according to European Audiovisual Observatory.
The Observatory says pay DTT services are now available in 17 EU countries and 21 European countries. Eighty-six new DTT channels were launched last year, and HD channels are available in DTT networks in 22 European countries.
A total of 33 pay DTT services were available in 21 countries at the end of last year following new launches in Belgium and Greece, though the number of pay DTT subscribers dropped by 13 per cent. 369 new channels launched in the EU across all platforms – DTT, cable, satellite and IPTV – last year, with over 40 per cent of these being HD channels. The number of channels closing down fell from 143 in 2011 to 62 in 2012.
Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece are scheduled to complete switchover this year, with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to follow in 2014 and the remaining countries – Albania, Montenegro, Romania, Russia and Turkey – in 2015.