Wednesday, July 26, 2006
MSNBC: When Will HDTV Take Root in Europe?
Posted by Brendan Goetz in "THOUGHT" @ 12:30 PM
“First it was going to be the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Then, hopes shifted to this summer's World Cup soccer championship. Over and over, broadcasters, producers, and TV makers have banked on a blockbuster sports event to kickstart European interest in high-definition TV, which offers sharply improved picture and sound quality. But so far, they have been disappointed. Despite years of marketing efforts, only about 800,000 European households now receive HD programming, and only about 2 million homes own HD-ready TVs, compared with 11 million in Japan and 19 million in the U.S.”
What drives the HDTV market will always be available content. I currently have 12 dedicated, fulltime HD channels, and another 6 that have some HD content (mostly the networks). When I make the move to DishNetwork, I will have at least 23. With most of Europe only offering 8 channels of HiDef, that right there is your problem. People watch way more TV than they do movies, and even if you have a bunch of your fave titles on HD-DVD, you are still going to be watching TV most of the time. Until they get more HD content choices over there, they are going to have a hard time selling sets. This article talks about the DVR capabilities of a recordable HD DVD solution, but you still need the content. Plain and simple.
What drives the HDTV market will always be available content. I currently have 12 dedicated, fulltime HD channels, and another 6 that have some HD content (mostly the networks). When I make the move to DishNetwork, I will have at least 23. With most of Europe only offering 8 channels of HiDef, that right there is your problem. People watch way more TV than they do movies, and even if you have a bunch of your fave titles on HD-DVD, you are still going to be watching TV most of the time. Until they get more HD content choices over there, they are going to have a hard time selling sets. This article talks about the DVR capabilities of a recordable HD DVD solution, but you still need the content. Plain and simple.
