It's worth mentioning a couple of things. Actually, 93% of the UK has "digital" TV of one form or another. Over-the-air digital offers around 30 channels, while pay-TV via cable and satellite offer substantially more. Pay television penetration is around 52%. So pay TV penetration is lower than the US certainly, but not as low you might imagine. A quick Google search said something like 60% of the US takes cable. It's not clear if that includes pay satellite though. And then there are obviously services like Netflix which I'm ignoring. The UK will be 100% digital by the end of next year, having phased analogue out on a region by region basis. That's allowed Sky and Virgin Media (the two main providers) plenty of opportunity to grow their businesses, although the free-to-air model works well here too.
That all said, as in the US, the major networks here are still watched much more than any of the others, be they additional free-to-air services from the BBC, ITV or Channel 4, or paid TV services like those from Sky (Murdoch). Of course, the UK's biggest TV night of the week is Saturday - a day that US networks long appear to have given up on. The reason that Len and Bruno can do both Strictly in the UK, and Dancing with the Stars in the US is because they broadcast on a Saturday (Sunday's results show is pre-recorded later on Saturday night after voting has closed - no timezones to worry about). I think the reason that ITV (and the BBC) can still achieve such high shares is that the pay-TV stations largely don't invest in significant original programming. There's a little bit of original programming commissioned from outside the bigger stations, but not a great deal. Sky's started doing a bit more since they can afford it (The whole Murdoch/phone hacking scandal put paid to Murdoch taking 100% control of Sky - a company that turns a massive profit). So we recently had Strike Back - a co-production with Cinemax. And there are other more British focused series - none of which has really broken through yet. Finally, it's worth noting that the aforementioned Netflix is launching in the UK next year. Their big rival in the market is Lovefilm which, like Netflix in the US, operates the dominant DVD-by-mail and streaming offering. But it's owned by Amazon. So that means a Netflix v Amazon battle which could be interesting. Another hardware based launch next year will be YouView which is a box that theoretically will allow anyone to sell their programming via IP connected to your TV. The UK market will get a big shake-up next year... Adam On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:03 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]> wrote: > > Of course, just like Fox is satisfied with "X Factor"'s ratings here, > the British version's ratings are still much more than respectable (a > 38 share in a country where cable and satellite penetration is still > relatively low and the majority of viewing is to five terrestrial > networks). Also, "X" has been facing off with "SCD" from the > beginning (and I assume that like its American counterpart, "SCD"'s > demos are much higher than "X Factor"'s). > > -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
