KDG’s analogue TV to stay

Jörn Krieger



Germany’s largest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland (KDG), has spoken out against the speedy switch-off of analogue television. The company says it will continue to distribute its channels in analogue for years to come in parallel with digital television.

According to KDG, the necessary bandwidth is available and KDG customers can decide for themselves whether they want to change to digital TV or continue with analogue. The company stressed that cable operators were under no legal obligation to terminate analogue carriage.

“Many of our longstanding customers appreciate analogue television. Kabel Deutschland takes the interests and wishes of our customers seriously and will not switch-off its analogue channels against the wills of its customers,” said CEO Adrian von Hammerstein.

KDG claims that the considerations of public and commercial broadcasters to end analogue satellite distribution have no effect on analogue cable television. “It is also in the interest of channels distributed in analogue that an analogue offer remains available for as long as possible. In agreement with these broadcasting partners we are ensuring that our customers can continue to receive analogue television as usual,” said von Hammerstein. Kabel BW, Germany’s third largest cable operator, also recently stressed that it would continue to maintain its analogue TV offer.

Von Hammerstein did add, however, that the company’s aim was to convince ever more households of the advantages of digital television. Each week KDG wins more than 5,000 new digital TV customers. Only just under 30% of Germany’s total of 18.45 million cable households have so far switched to digital television. The share of digital households amongst DTH satellite homes already stands at 70 per cent.