25 October 2011

The Italian television market has now turned digital. By the end of 2011, six months away from the switch-off, the analogical TV is still present in the 5% of the households.

Market saturation will result in a substantial stabilization of the penetration of the different platforms: the forecast is that the share of the digital terrestrial TV (DTT) will drop, the digital satellite TV (DTH) grows to a limited extent and the broadband TV (BBTV), which is now taking off among the operators as an alternative content distribution platform, will have a rather limited penetration, despite an increase in the number of subscribers.

The television sector in Italy shows the signs of a recession for the first time: € 8,8 billion by the end of 2011, slightly lower than in the 2010.

Mediaset, leader in 2011, will be affected by the slowdown in advertising revenues and this will help Sky, which will pick up in the following two years. Rai will decrease slightly its market share.Telecom Italia will remain a minor player in the television market, but it will grow significantly due to the upward trend in advertising revenues, in contrast with the rest of the market players.