Os remito literal una nota de prensa de Screen Digest, consultora que analiza el mercado de los servicios de IPTV en Europa.

IPTV in Europe: A battle of the brands as subscriber numbers are set to double in 2007

The European market for IPTV will double in 2007, according to the latest figures from media analysts Screen Digest. The research examines the 54 IPTV services across Europe, 19 of which are in operation in the five European markets of the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

IPTV is the fastest growing pay-TV platform by far, outstripping all other platforms combined. Screen Digest forecasts that subscriptions to IPTV services across Europe will almost double from 2.9m in 2006 to 5.6m in 2007, with subscription revenues from IPTV increasing from 470m to over 1bn. Almost 1m of those new customers will be in France.

Europe's Top Five Operators
The top five IPTV operators in Europe – Orange, Telefónica, Free Telecom, Neuf Telecom and Fastweb - accounted for 60 per cent of the total IPTV market in the five countries at the end of 2006. Screen Digest expects that these operators will remain in their respective positions throughout 2007, with Neuf Telecom and Free Telecom vying for second place in France.

One key factor contributing to the strong growth in IPTV is that services are being offered by well known household names, giving consumers the confidence to subscribe. Orange, BT, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia were already very established brand names in their markets, giving them a significant advantage when promoting the service.

Telco's on the defensive
Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) is one of the main driving forces of IPTV uptake in France, Spain and the UK, with ten IPTV services using hybrid DTT/IPTV boxes in the three markets. Such services are popular because they allow customers to access the DTT channels for free, and give them the option to take pay-TV and Video on Demand (VoD). BT in the UK and France's Darty are two operators using this model, with Italy's Rai currently trialling it.

For operators, the hybrid IPTV models provide a cheap and easy way to broadcast content. This explains why in some cases the customer's packages are inferior to cable or satellite offerings. Nine of the IPTV operations have free or reduced pay-TV, and even those with full services lack the channel range exhibited by their competitors.

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Nota de Prensa de Screen Digest