Prospects for the satellite HD TV development in Ukraine
In April 2019, SES presented the results of the Satellite Monitor survey to the Ukrainian media representatives.
According to a study in 2018, 34% of TV households used satellite television in Ukraine, that is, 4.5 million. Ukrainians use other types of television signal reception less: cable - 31% (4.2 million households), broadcasting - 31% (4.2 million), IPTV - 4% (0.49 million).
According to Onno Zonneveld, SES Astra AB Head in Ukraine and the CIS countries, Ukrainians are ready to pay for HD content, but HD launch is rather slow due to the small number of channels that are ready for high-definition broadcasting.
“The trend that we now consider very necessary and useful is HD broadcasting. In Ukraine, 47% of households can receive HD. There is a lot of potential in this segment, and it is growing every year. Now it is very difficult to buy a TV without HD. For several years, the number of TV-sets capable of receiving channels in high quality will increase to 50-70%. That's why HD content should appear now”, - commented Onno Zonneveld for the press.
The satellite as a method of delivering HD content has the greatest prospects, especially after coding Ukrainian channels on the satellite, which will occur in the coming year. After that, Onno Zonneveld predicted, up to one million households will move into the paid segment. The ability to watch HD channels will motivate Ukrainian viewers to subscribe to the services of paid satellite DTH platforms.
This way of content monetization is interesting for broadcasting companies because the signal of the media group from the satellite will not be used for broadcasting, but for delivering the signal to operators or subscribers of paid satellite television. This will use a different type of signal with more efficient compression and free capacity, which can be used for HD.