Digital satellite pay TV platforms continue to grow in many areas of the world, and are expected to enjoy higher profitability over the next several years, according to In-Stat/MDR. The research company expect 40 mln worldwide DTH pay-TV subscribers to be added through 2008 as compared to the 61 mln digital DTH pay-TV subscribers that were active at the end of 2003.
Worldwide subscription revenues are projected to grow to $70 bln in 2008. In Europe, Italy has been a growing market in 2004, but subscriber growth in most other countries has been slow. One of the fastest growing countries will be Japan due to the conversion of a large number of analog satellite subscribers to the digital broadcast satellite service. India is also expected to experience fast growth as the country’s first satellite pay-TV service was launched in 2003 and a second one is expected in 2005.