What They Say
Satellite operator SES put out its latest Monitor market research and said it is now delivering 8,265 channels worldwide, including close to 3,000 in the HD format. The reach of the firm’s technology is now 361 million households. The firm said that satellite remains the platform of choice for HD, representing nearly 40% of HD TV homes and almost the same as cable and IPTV homes combined. In addition, UHD screens increased 5 percentage points since 2019 and are now present in 20% of European TV homes.
Both Europe and Africa increased by 2 million households in 2020 and the firm now gets to 43% of European TV homes. The number of TV homes receiving HD content from 19.2 degrees East also continued to increase to 84%, representing an increase of almost 30% over the past five years.
What We Think
I have used SES as my bellwether for satellite broadcasting over recent years, partly because the firm was always among those promoting HD and UltraHD. Just as Intel is with CPU cycles, satellite broadcasters like anything that needs more and more bits/second so that it can exploit its huge capacity potential. Over the years, SES has been prepared to commission useful research on the market.
The use of their data was always helped by the hospitality that the firm showed for many years on the evening before IBC in a very enjoyable presentation adn dinner that always balanced work, pleasure and networking very well. It was said when it stopped a couple of years ago! The SES industry days were also a good place to meet the technical side of the TV set and broadcast industry in Europe.
One thing that is not always clear from the overall figures is that a fair amount of homes are reached by satellite being the back end – for example transmitting to cable head-ends for onward transmission to consumers. (BR)
