Study: Digital Satellite TV Revenue to Top $91 billion by 2017

COLOGNE, Germany - The digital satellite pay-TV market will be worth $91 billion in the next five years, up from $76 billion in 2011, according to a study published Wednesday by U.K.-based Digital TV Research.

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The report forecasts 220 million direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers by 2017, an increase of 50 million from current figures. Developing markets will provide much of that growth, with India projected to add nearly 23 million new DTH subscribers in the next five years and subscriptions in Brazil forecast to jump 7.6 million. Brazil is also forecasted to lead the market in revenue growth, nearly doubling DTH sales to $8 billion by 2017.

Overall, Digital TV Research expects global DTH penetration to hit 14.4 percent by 2017, up from 11.1 percent now. Digital satellite coverage will be highest in South Africa, which is forecast to top 60 percent penetration in five years. This compares to 30 percent in the U.S. and 39 percent DTH penetration in the U.K.

But the U.S. will remain the strongest digital satellite market, with revenues forecasted to grow some $3.1 billion to $38 billion by 2017, though the U.S. share of the global market will fall from 46 percent in 2011 to 42 percent by 2017.