HDTV to Transition from Niche Market

global North America, Europe

Northern Sky Research: Market to Generate $1.3 Billion in Satellite Communications Revenue Through 2010. Almost all global regions, HD is expected to make a near term appearance and begin to have an impact on overall satellite capacity demand as a result. North America clearly leads the way with a number of HD channels currently made available by all major broadcasters, as well as the two DTH players. And despite the recent hiccups experienced through the demise of VOOM, the North American HD industry is unquestionably here to stay.

From a global total of US$47.6M in revenues directly attributed to commercial satellite capacity leased purely for HD broadcasting in 2004, to a massive US$323.8M in revenues by 2010, a significant growth in satellite lease revenues. This growth may be seen as welcome news for satellite operators given the recent stalemate in lease capacity prices due to excess capacity. In fact, the timing of HD could not be better: with increasing pressures from governments to migrate analog channels to less bandwidth intensive digital starting from 2005/6 onwards, operators have been looking at HD to soak up excess capacity.

From a regional perspective, it is clear that North America and Japan have led the way in ensuring HD has finally emerged from being a niche service to a more widely accepted standard and an eventual replacement for standard definition digital television. Europe is not far behind with its first HD channel started in 2004 and all the major national broadcasters announcing plans to launch HD channels. In fact, the key market and technology variables for Europe are only now just beginning to align, paving the way for sustained evolution of the HD industry, similar to what North America has experienced over the past few years.

High Definition Television (HDTV) over Satellite: A Regional Assessment of Demand for Satellite-Delivered HD Channels Publ 20050510 HDTV?