HD-Ready Devices Abound in Europe, Programming Elusive
New logos aim to end consumer confusion over the latest HD-ready TVs and devices, the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations (EICTA) said. The “HD ready 1080p” and “HD TV 1080p” labels, in use as of Thursday, go on gear meeting its standards for receiving, processing and displaying HD 1080p video signals that are becoming available, they said. But despite HD-ready products’ proliferation, Europe’s HDTV market lags behind North America’s for lack of programming and investment, analysts said.
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Display products worthy of the 1080p qualifier logos feature at least 1920 by 1080 resolution and guarantee that the relevant 1080p signal variants -- 24Hz, 50Hz and 60Hz -- can be acquired and reproduced with the same or higher frame rate, EICTA said. Those requirements are meant to stop an eruption of devices in Europe whose proprietary logos claim they conform to a range of “Full HD” or “1080” standards, it said. The new standards are in addition to requirements for displaying the EICTA “HD ready” and “HDTV” logos introduced in 2005.
European attention mainly is focused on DTV, but HDTV is “slowly establishing itself,” Tony Graziano, EICTA technical and regulatory affairs director, said in a report. Since mid-2003, HDTV has been a major topic for infrastructure providers and their customers, he said. As DVD and flat screen, wide-format gear spreads, it leads viewers to expect better picture quality, forcing broadcasters to emphasize DTV service quality over quantity, he said.
Flat-screen models will exceed 55 percent of the color TV market by 2008 in the 15 Western European nations, Norway and Switzerland, according to January Screen Digest data, Graziano noted. Development and use since of the HD-ready logo “no doubt” is catalyzing market growth, he said; more than 15 million HD-ready TVs have been sold. “Unprecedented consumer interest and demand took many retailers by surprise,” but this year nearly all TVs over 26 inches probably will be HD-ready, his report said.
HD programming remains sparse, Graziano said. Several channels, mostly satellite, offer HDTV transmission, with their ranks expected to exceed 150 by 2010 as HDTV becomes available over terrestrial, cable and Internet Protocol networks, he said. But most public broadcasters hesitate to pay extra for HDTV content or provide HD services, instead waiting to see how the market develops, he said. Spectrum availability and financing remain the crucial barriers to HDTV transmission launches, especially for broadcasters bearing the costs of switching to DTV, he said.
EU broadcasters also are waiting to see what happens with the digital dividend expected from the switch, Graziano said. HDTV requires about four times as much bandwidth as standard-definition TV, and bandwidth restrictions are a problem not only for terrestrial and IP networks but also for cable and satellite networks that may have to balance picture quality against number of channels offered, he said.
Inquiries underway EU-wide on use of spectrum released by the digital switch will decide if HD digital terrestrial TV services will be available in some countries, Graziano said. Without more spectrum, deployment of HD on DTT “will still happen, but timing will be uncertain,” he said. Near term, at least, pay-TV will be the main European conduit for HD services, he said, and direct-to-home has the edge over cable, terrestrial and IPTV.
HD programming exists, but the audience remains small, said Strategy Analytics Vice President David Mercer. Less than 1 percent of European households watch HDTV, but that percentage is growing steadily, he said. The availability of HD-ready equipment has alerted many consumers to HDTV, but not many realize that they can receive the signals, he said.
Public broadcasters tend to trail pay TV providers in providing HDTV, Mercer said. British Sky Broadcasting has the most HD subscriptions, and in a test the BBC is offering a few hours of HDTV every evening, plus occasional HD sports coverage, he said. It’s a financial issue, he said; pay TV channels can charge a modest premium for HDTV, but public broadcasters can’t. It will take “a good few years” for the HD value chain to fall into place in Europe, Mercer said.
Europe lags North America by three to five years in HDTV investment, demand and channels, Ovum media analyst Aleksandra Bosnjak said in an interview. At the end of 2006, about 47 HD channels were offered in the U.S. across all platforms; Europe had about 33, she said. HD-ready IPTV, a “must-have” and a very competitive feature in North American pay-TV markets, is being slow to emerge in Europe, she said.
Things are changing, however. France Telecom Orange TV, one of the first telecommunications providers to deploy HDTV over DSL, has more than 800,000 subscribers, Bosnjak said. Germany, Sweden, the U.K., Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic now or will offer HDTV programming, she said. But Belgacom, Belgium’s incumbent provider, sees HDTV in Europe as a “niche” offering, she said.