The Market Research group Strategy Analytics estimate that Sales of high definition TV and other HD devices in Europe will increase by 158% this year, meaning that over 28 million units will be sold. By the year 2012, 70% of European homes should have an HDTV, showing an increase in 8% from 2006. Strategy Analytics go on to estimate that by 2012 44% of people in Europe will be watching high-definition programming via HDTV receivers either in the form of set-top boxes or integrated tuners. Next come those watching HDTV on digital media players, estimated at 27%, then HD DVD devices (including blu-ray) at 26% and last of all 15% using portable HD devices. Part of the reason for this huge surge in sales is the growing interest in new television technologies such as Plasma and LCD, the majority of which are HDTV ready.

This report coincides with the BBCs own report A Higher Definition: the Digital terrestrial HD Trial in which they estimate that some 10 million UK homes alone will have HDTV by the end of this decade. Likewise the BBC go on to confirm that many instances of homes being HDTV ready is 'by default' as part of the natural replacement cycle of old television equipment and a desire for space saving and aesthetically pleasing flat screen models that just happen to be HDTV ready in most cases. They further cite the influence of the next-generation of video games consoles, namely the PS3 and Xbox 360 both of which allow gamers to play games in a high-definition video environment and watch HD DVDs (the Xbox 360 comes with an HD DVD player add-on while the PS3 incorporates blu-ray as standard).

All of this is good news for HDTV in general as consumer demand will drive down prices, speed technological advancement and put pressure on broadcasters to make more HD content available, nevertheless HDTV is still a fairly niche area where consumer awareness is still in its infancy, say the BBC.