A recent survey from Jupiter Research found that picture quality was the most important factor persuading European consumers to switch to digital TV. The study, as reported in the BBC news article Picture Quality Drives Digital TV, showed only 10 percent of consumers cited video-on-demand and digital video recorders as the most important factor in deciding to switch to DTV, compared with 24 percent that said HDTV was the most important factor.
According to the article, Ian Fogg, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, "believes European operators have been slow to introduce HDTV because of a belief that standard definition pictures are 'good enough.'" He felt the World Cup soccer match could be one of the big launch events for HDTV.
For more information, see Picture Quality Drives Digital TV and a more comprehensive article in Mediaweek, Will the UK market switch on to the cutting edge of HDTV? that describes the HDTV plans of satellite and terrestrial operators in the U.K.
