German pay-TV operator Premiere has attracted 90,000 subscribers for its High Definition TV package to date, company spokesman Stefan Vollmer confirmed. Growth has been steady but in no way stellar. In August subscriber figures for the High Definition channels Premiere HD and Discovery HD were at around 80,000. In March the broadcaster counted 70,000 HD subscribers and at the end of last year 60,000. Altogether Premiere currently has 3.53 million customers.
The HD service does not lack distribution. Premiere HD and Discovery HD are distributed via satellite on Astra (19.2° East) and on the cable networks of Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW and smaller operators such as wilhelm.tel and EWT.
Germany’s third largest cable company, Unitymedia, is currently preparing carriage of Premiere HD. Additionally, Deutsche Telekom distributes both HDTV channels on its IPTV platform via ADSL broadband networks in VDSL and ADSL2+ technology.