DTH Approaches Vary
The United States remains at the forefront of HD broadcasting to the home. DirecTV and EchoStar have huge numbers HD channels available. According to Derek Chang, DirecTV executive vice president, content strategy and development, “HD is no longer the next new thing. It has become the standard that our customers expect.” The numbers of HD channels DirecTV could have in the near future will be in the hundreds, he says.
In Europe, BSkyB, with more than 30 HD channels, and Canal Digital in the Nordic region are setting the pace. Christian Albech, Canal Digital’s CEO, says the platform has made HD a fundamental part of its growth strategy. “Our main strategy has been to convert from standard TV to HDTV. Ten years ago, we went from analog TV to digital TV. We have exactly the same strategy this time. We want to be the first to really move from SD to HDTV. In Europe, only BSkyB has more HD channels than us, so we will follow up on that. We have 12 international HD channels, many of them exclusive, which is part of our strategy. We have eight national HD channels. Most of them are exclusive.” SD channels are now a secondary consideration for Canal Digital, which in 2007 put all of its HD channels into the company’s basic family package and increased the price 50 percent. “We would like to add around four more HD channels in the next 12 months but it will depend on what will be developed by channel suppliers. We want quality content,” he says.
Not all operators in Europe are moving quickly to HD. UPC Direct, which has around 500,000 subscribers in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, says it will not likely launch HD services until 2010, having seen other operators in Central Europe find the move difficult. “We will look to provide HD services going forward, but we do not have an exact timing right now,” says UPC Direct Managing Director Magnus Ternsjö. “I think it is likely we will have some HD services in 2010 in the second half of the year. We are likely to launch HD services first in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.” Ternsjö admits the operator has been holding back the launch of HD services. “The only reason why we are holding back is we want to see a higher density of HD set-top boxes out there. I think next year the volume of set-top boxes will be greater, plus the cost price of these boxes will also go down. HD will then become important. It is just a matter of when.”
In Asia, the story is mixed, with some platforms far more advanced than others. SkyPerfect JSAT of Japan is predicting strong growth in the numbers of HD channels it intends to offer customers. In July, the operator offered 18 HD channels. By October, it will ramp up to 60 HD channels, with a projected 70-plus in 2010. Others operators are not as advanced. In Malaysia, the pay-TV competition centers around DTH operator Astro and Telecom Malaysia, which is launching IPTV services later this year. Astro has not yet launched HD services, but CEO Rohana Rozhan says they definitely are on the operator’s road map. In Latin America, Brazil is expected to be one of the main growth markets for pay-TV services, with one of Brazil’s main telcos, Embratel, dipping its toes in the pay-TV space and launching a DTH service which already has 100,000 subscribers. “We think in 2011, there will be 500,000 HDTV-ready households in Brazil,” says Antonio Joao, executive director of Via Embratel. “We have plans for HD and PVR in 2011.The key question is about the availability of content. Today, local broadcasters are starting to produce local content in HD for the pay-TV market. We are seeing international content also being produced in HD, but the production of HD content here only started 12 months ago. We hope to have around 10 pay-TV HD channels. There could also be a further number of HD channels available from local broadcasters.”
Bottom Line
HD is happening, perhaps not has fast as people thought, but it is here. Some operators are adopting a more cautious approach, and even in some established markets in Western Europe, you can count the number of HD channels on satellite pay-TV platforms on one hand. But broadcasters are producing more content, and as more HD-ready equipment makes it way into homes, operators will be compelled to launch HD services to keep ahead of the competition.
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