Self-imposed Cord-cutting to Hit Western Europe Pay TV

London, UK, March 9, 2024 - Western Europe will lose nearly 9 million pay TV subscribers between 2023 and 2029 to reach 93 million – down by 8%. This is nowhere near as bad as the US as pay TV penetration will still be 53% by 2029 – down from 58% in 2023 according to Digital TV Research.

Pay TV subscriber counts will fall for 14 of the 18 countries between 2023 and 2029. Germany will lose 2.7 million subs, with the UK down by 2.0 million, Italy 1.5 million and France by 1.1 million.

IPTV will gain 1 million subscribers between 2023 and 2029, with pay satellite TV down by 6.4 million, pay DTT down by 0.8 million and cable down by 2.4 million.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Pay satellite TV will be the biggest loser because most DTH platforms do not offer broadband access. This is not true of Sky, which wants to convert its satellite TV subscribers to its streaming platforms. Sky will lose 1.8 million satellite TV subs in both Germany and the UK as well as a further 1.3 million in Italy – or nearly 5 million in its five territories between 2023 and 2029.”