Worldwide, the number of pay-TV customers with subscriptions to HDTV services is expected to reach 225 million this year, according to a forecast based on new research from ABI Research.
To put that number into perspective, there were 704 million pay-TV subscribers globally as of the end of 2010, an increase of 56 million from the previous year, according to the firm’s most recent market data.
The research, part of the “Pay-TV Subscriber Market Data” report, also found that more than half of all pay-TV subscribers were DTV subscribers. The total number of subscriptions is forecast to exceed 745 million in 2011.
"The growth rate is good in all pay-TV platforms except cable TV," said ABI Research practice director Jason Blackwell. "High cable penetration in regions such as North America and Western Europe and the increasing popularity of online video services have resulted in slow growth in worldwide cable-TV markets."
