High prices will at first hinder sales, but James Healey, Datamonitor's Senior Media and Broadcasting Technologies Analyst, says momentum for HDTV is now building: 'Broadcasters have announced definite deployment plans. The consumer electronics (CE) industry is abuzz over this new (and profitable) market. Despite some observers previously stating that it would never come to the European market, HDTV has arrived in Europe this year, and is here to stay'.

For comparison, the first colour TV, produced by RCA in 1956, cost $1,000, and it is estimated only 1,000 were sold in the first year (1956). Even by 1964, penetration had climbed to only 3%. Colour TVs cost $500-1,200, while black and white versions retailed for $150-300.

HDTV is already being broadcast in the US, Australia, Japan, Canada and South Korea. Sky in the UK and M6, TPS and TF1 in France, have all recently announced plans to offer HD content to viewers - TPS should launch services in 2005 and Sky in 2006, while the BBC has plans to produce all of its content in HD by 2010. 20 years from now, all of Europe will broadcast television only in HD.

The report provides household HDTV forecasts for 14 European markets - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.