Digital terrestrial television (DTT): trends and challenges in Hungary

Hungarian national commercial TV stations lost audience share following the first stage of the country’s two-step transition to digital broadcasting, broadbandtvnews.com reports.

On the other hand, in a scenario that was also seen in Ireland, public service broadcasters gained viewers, according to Csilla Vörös, MD Nielsen. Quoting preliminary data, she added that amongst the most needy viewers 83% had switched from analogue to DTT, with 6% opting for analogue cable, 10% DTH and only 1% IPTV. Vörös also said that there are 102 local language channels currently available, of which 96 are monitored. Of these channels, around 50% are present in the average household. Some 13.2% of homes receive 1-7 channels and around a fifth over 70 channels.

Gergely Kis from Enet meanwhile said that 1.5 million DVB-T devices had already been sold as of this May, with the final figure eventually expected to rise to over 2 million. He also said that 350,000 Hungarians living outside Hungary wanted to watch Hungarian DTT services and had in some cases bought receivers.

Ferenc Kéry, the president of the cable association MKSZ, said that there hadn’t been a migration from cable to DTT.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com