Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2012
230. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of households that subscribe to receive TV channels and the percentage this represents of households receiving television; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49166/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra231. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the way Ireland compares with other EU countries in the numbers and percentage who subscribe to receive TV channels to those who receive a free service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49168/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 230 and 231 together.
According to ComReg, “Irish Communications Market: Key Data Report – Q2 2012”, approximately 1.311 million of those Irish homes with television had some form of subscription television service, equating to approximately 82% of the market. In turn, approximately 12.6% of these households rely solely on the Irish terrestrial channels and a further 5.3% rely on a combination of the Irish terrestrial channels and one or more of the UK terrestrial channels. The situation across the EU is quite diverse and so a mean or average penetration of subscription television is of little practical use as a metric. The situation ranges from those countries with over 80% of television users on a subscription model (including Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Hungary) to those countries with around half of the television households on subscription (Germany on 55%, the UK on 53%, Italy on 41% and France on 49%).
