Statistics show that by the end of 2006 an additional 40 million homes will have digital TV and 46 million by the end of 2007 according to market research studies headed up by Informa. On a global scale, it's estimated that by 2011 more than 500 million homes will have digital television.
In total, that's 344 million homes going digital between 2005 and 2011. Research predicts that China will contribute to 28% of that increase while more giant leaps are expected in Japan, India and the US.
In 5 years it is expected that 50% of all homes will rely on digital cable while the popularity of Broadband TV (IPTV) will decrease.
Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and TV-on-demand will be the reason for much of this growth.
In the UK, most homes will be forced to migrate to digital television due to government laws to cut the switch on traditional analog television. The switchover is due to be 100% complete by 2012. At this time more than 70% of homes in the UK already use digital TV.
Similar laws in the United States and Canada will also see digital television fully phased in, replacing analog TV, by 2011.
I personally hope that the frequent picture pixelation and intermittent freeze-ups that seem to plague digital television right now will be addressed way before then. It seems rather frustrating, that cable companies have conditioned us to accept these problems, but they have no problem with charging us more than we have ever previously paid for their sub-standard services.
