Eastern european television is full of promise

Central and eastern Europe

Informa Telecoms & Media: Central and eastern Europe is to experience a major move towards digital TV. According to the ninth edition of Informa's , 22.5 million of the region's homes will receive digital signals by end-2010 - more than five times the 2004 figure.

Digital TV households (000)

	2004	2005	2010
Czech Rep.	90	97	707
Hungary	140	182	988
Poland	1,085	1,268	4,228
Romania	2	68	1,320
Russia	1,091	1,444	8,445
Rest of Region	1,828	2,188	6,763
Total	4,236	5,247	22,450

Digital penetration will exceed 15% of the region's TV households by 2010. Digital cable is on the verge of widespread rollout in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland and cable subscriptions will have 26% penetration by 2010, with satellite and digital terrestrial at 3.2% and 2.5% respectively. By 2010 IPTV will be present in 0.9% of eastern European TV households.

Digital penetration of TV households in 2010 (%)

	2004	2005	2010
Czech Rep.	2.4%	2.5%	17.9%
Hungary	3.6%	4.7%	24.8%
Poland	8.6%	10.1%	33.0%
Romania	0.0%	0.9%	17.4%
Russia	2.1%	2.7%	15.9%
Total	3.0%	3.7%	15.4%

Although growth will be pretty spectacular over the next few years, with 15% penetration by 2010, digital TV will still have plenty of potential for growth. As you would expect, satellite, digital terrestrial and IPTV will be most popular in countries that have low cable penetration. However, DTT roll-out has been delayed in some countries, so target dates for analogue switch-off may not come to fruition. By 2010, the region will still have 89 million homes that receive analogue terrestrial or analogue satellite signals. About 63% of homes - or 145 million - will take digital terrestrial, digital satellite, IPTV and cable (both analogue and digital services). Cable subscribers, both analogue and digital, will account for 36% of TV households. Eastern European Television - 9th Edition. Publ 20050617