Dutch digital TV subscribers grow to 6.72 million

The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 0.9 percent during the first quarter of this year 6.72 million on 31 March, according to Telecompaper’s latest quarterly report about the Dutch TV market. The total TV connections grew during the quarter to 7.74 million. The share of digital TV on the whole TV market has grown to 86.8 percent, which includes 3.71 million cable subscribers who also have analogue TV connections. At the same time, the TV revenues grew slightly to end the first quarter with EUR 402 million.

Fibre passed terrestrial during the first quarter to become the fourth largest digital TV technology in the Netherlands. Cable still accounted for over half (55.2%) of digital TV subscribers, despite losing market share to fibre and DSL as networks for IPTV services. DSL was the second most common way to receive digital TV, followed by satellite.  

The ranking of largest TV providers, both on the total market and on the digital market, stays unchanged. Ziggo is first, followed by KPN, UPC and CanalDigitaal. 

For the full year of 2014, Telecompaper expects a digital TV growth of 5 percent to almost 7 million connections. The growth will come from DSL and fibre as cable operators have seen their growth slowing down. Telecompaper also offered a forecast for growth of TV revenues, expecting a 0.2 percent CAGR until 2018.