Communications Regulatory Authority

undergo further acceleration in 2006 on the occasion of the world football
championships to be played in Germany (an event that will be broadcast in 16:9
quality).
In particular, Premiere offers a complete high definition package, called
“Premiere HD”, which includes, among other content, movies, sports events, and
documentaries. In Italy, Sky launched a high definition service in May, on the occasion
of the European Champions League final, and will produce high definition broadcasts
for the world football championships, using DVB S2 technology and the MPEG4
compression standard. Once it is in full swing, the operator will provide high definition
channels dedicated to movies, sports, and entertainment in general. French satellite
operators are also very active on the high definition front: TPS has started to provide
some of its subscribers with special set-top boxes and already offers several channels in
the new format.
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
Last year was very important also for the diffusion, among European
households, of Internet Protocol television (IPTV) services. Within the framework of
the already-existing services, the range of content made available to users was
expanded, especially on the basis of agreements signed by the telecommunication
operators and movie majors concerning the offering of video-on-demand films. There
were also a number of new services launched during the year.
At the end of 2005, it is estimated that approximately 1 million households in
Europe had access to an IPTV offering.
As for Italy, the Fastweb offering (around 160,000 users at the end of 2005) was
joined by that of Telecom Italia, which should be followed, during the year, by Tiscali
and Wind (cf. paragraph 1.1.1.).
The French market is being confirmed as one of the most active in Europe:
approximately 500,000 users have already taken out subscriptions for Internet television
services. At the present time there are four IPTV offerings: three provided by alternative
operators (Free, Neuf Telecom, and Alice), and one (called “Maligne TV”) by the
incumbent operator France Télécom (FT). FT’s service is currently the principal one,
with around 200,000 subscribers (compared to the 69,000 of the previous year);
moreover, France Télécom will provide an offering of high definition programmes
starting in June, and Free has prepared a new set-top box that supports high definition
broadcasts and reception of digital terrestrial channels.
In Spain, the main IPTV offering is that of Telefónica, which has around
250,000 subscribers, who enjoy 50 television channels, 15 radio stations, and a VoD
service. The service covers 25% of Spanish households, a percentage that should rise to
50% in 2008. The offering of the incumbent operator has been joined by those of the
competitive operators Grupalia Internet (under the name “Superbanda.net”), Jazztel
(called “Jazztelia TV”), and France Télécom España which launched the “Wanadoo
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