Digital TV use in RP seen growing 21% by 2015

MANILA, Philippines - Digital television usage in the Philippines is expected to grow to 21 percent by 2015, from five percent last year and only one percent in 2005.

Analysts said the growth in digital TV penetration is due to the impending implementation of the shift from analog to digital TV as mandated by the Philippine government. Major television stations, including GMA Network, ABS-CBN and ABC-5, are now testing their facilities for the eventual shift, especially after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued the new digital TV rules that required the use of the Japanese standard.

Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific television sector sector passed two significant milestones last month, with the region now exceeding 150 million digital TV homes while, at the same time, surpassing 10 million Internet TV (IPTV) households, according to latest figures from Informa Telecoms & Media.

The report said despite the global macro-economic difficulties during 2009, more than 35 million homes upgraded from analog to digital TV. Also in the year, 26 million new homes subscribed to pay TV, comprising 14 million to cable, nine million to DTH and three million to IPTV.

Informa Telecoms forecasts show that those sectors will continue to grow impressively over the next five years.

Adam Thomas, media research manager and lead analyst on the research said: “By 2015 there will be well over 400 million digital TV homes, including 40 million taking IPTV, which in turn will generate revenues of more than $40 billion.”

“There are increasingly positive signs for digital TV in the region. Competition between the platforms is intensifying and this is pushing digital upgrades up the agenda of many operators,” he added.

Informa Telecoms is forecasting that the 21 percent digital TV penetration rate at end-2009 will increase to 54 percent by end-2015.

By 2015, digital penetration will have reached 100 percent in four markets (Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore), with another four expected to have achieved a penetration rate of 70 percent or more (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan).

“While globally IPTV has failed to make any real impact, it does remain important in the Asia-Pacific region. We expect IPTV subscribers to grow by 25 million over the next five years, which means that it will become a significant rival to cable and DTH in some markets, notably via SingTel’s Mio TV in Singapore and Korea Telecom’s Qook in South Korea,” Thomas pointed out.