Television Industry

US television industry

With more than 108 million TV households and over 73 million basic cable households, US television penetration is over 98 percent and cable penetration is over 68 percent. Revenues from the US television industry grew from USD118.89 billion in 2002 to USD130.5 billion in 2003, according to media statistics.
                     
TV Networks: In 2003, US broadcast and cable TV networks registered a 10.3 percent increase in revenues, from USD42.6 billion in 2002 to USD47 billion in 2003. TV advertising revenues grew   from USD28 billion in 2002 to USD30.7 billion in 2003, up 9.5 percent. License fees grew by 11.7 percent from USD14.6 billion in 2002 to USD16.3 billion in 2003.

Television Distribution: The television distribution market grew from USD76.29 billion in 2002 to USD83.5 billion in 2003. In the US, broadcast TV networks continue to lose audiences to cable networks, who in turn are losing media market share to Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS). The growth of DBS households continues to be one of the biggest successes in recent times. DBS is poaching cable subscribers by aggressively offering lower prices, free dishes, and by carrying major local stations. Cable penetration was 68 percent and generated revenues of $51.3 billion in 2003.

Cable operators are continuing with the digital upgrades of their networks and are providing services like premium subscriptions, pay per view and Video-on-Demand (VoD). The VoD service brought in USD720 million in 2003 and is predicted to be the fastest growing segment in future years.

High Definition Television (HDTV) has captured the imagination of a growing number of TV viewers through its extraordinary picture quality. Broadcasters and multi-channel service providers are equally enamored by HDTV. Now available in a few countries, HDTV has the potential to boost monthly revenues for both cable and satellite operators and terrestrial TV broadcasters.

Europe television industry

TV Networks: The European television industry grew by 2.63 percent from EUR39.03 billion in 2002 to EUR40.06 billion in 2003. This growth can be attributed to better regional advertising.

Figures for 2004 are likely to be boosted by the increase in advertising revenue due to previous events such as the Athens Olympics and European football championships.

Television Distribution: Europe’s TV Distribution market has expanded rapidly in recent years, fuelled by the strong growth in multichannel households. The European TV distribution market saw an increase of 10.67 percent, amounting to EUR22.4 billion in 2003 compared with EUR20.24 billion in 2002.

The European television industry is expected to grow during 2004–08 owing to the continuous increase in multichannel households, while spending on premium services is being fueled by improved economic conditions. Cable remains the dominant access medium in France, Germany and the Netherlands, but satellite is ahead in the UK, Italy and Spain.

Benelux countries (including Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Germany and Switzerland account for over 80 percent of households with access to over 20 channels. Among countries with low levels of multi-channel penetration, Italy and Spain are witnessing slow growth in multi-channel television services while France and the UK are relatively better off. Starting in 2005, growth in the number of multi-channel households will be moderate, although good growth is expected in Italy and Spain where uptake so far has been sluggish.

UK television industry

The total UK television industry revenue amounted to GBP9,812 million in 2003, up 9 percent over 2002. For the first time in 2003, TV subscription revenue (GBP3,295m) grew by 11 percent, overtaking advertising revenue (GBP3,240m). Advertising revenue grew by 3 percent in 2003. The digital sector grew, driven by the higher penetration of digital TV. The BBC received 28 percent of the total television industry channel revenue through license fees and accounted for 32 percent of UK programme spend, while securing 38 percent of viewing. Sky channels, on the other hand, earned 20 percent of total channel revenue and spent 25 percent of the total television industry programme budget, reflecting the high cost of movie and sports rights, but received only 6 percent of the viewing.  By the end of March 2004, 13 million homes were receiving digital television, which accounted for 53 percent of the total UK households.  Freeview has also taken off well, with the number of digital terrestrial homes trebling since the start of 2003. At the end of the Q1 2004, there were almost 3.5 million Freeview households.

BBC One is the UK’s most-viewed channel; more than one in every three UK viewers would opt for it, if forced to make do with only one channel. The two main cable operators, NTL and Telewest Broadband, have suffered from poor financial profits. Digital TV is expected to cross new frontiers with new services like HDTV and Interactive TV, while Freesat is expected to boost Average Revenue per User (ARPU).

Read the full Article with a single purchase – CLICK HERE