Frankfurt, 17 February 2025:

The end of the transmission of ARD programmes in SD quality via satellite has led to a boom in the business with televisions and ‘set-top boxes for HDTV reception. According to the latest GfK figures, around 1.6 million TV sets were sold in the fourth quarter of 2024 - 6.2 per cent more than in the same period last year. This development gained further momentum with the activation of information notices in the current ARD programmes from mid-November 2024 until the switch-off at the beginning of January 2025 and the weeks thereafter. This is shown by set-top-boxes sales, which increased noticeably during this period. From November 2024 (78,000 units) to December 2024 (130,000 units), set-top-boxes sales more than tripled by the end of January 2025 (277,000 units). These figures are significantly higher than those of the previous year. Even though many affected households had already acted in advance, the actual switch-off triggered the biggest boost, as expected. Set-top-boxes sales are currently moving back towards the usual level and the switchover should have been completed in most of the households affected.

The switchover was and remains a challenge in the institutional sector, for example in hotels, hospitals and retirement and care homes. Here, the process is much more complex, as not only the population of devices may have to be converted to HD, but often also the reception technology of the communal facilities. This requires coordination, financing and planning phases that need to be taken into account. There are currently still delivery backlogs, which must now be gradually reduced in order to make the community facilities suitable for HD reception.

Die Information potenziell betroffener Einrichtungen war daher ein zentraler Aspekt des Runden Tisches zur SD-Abschaltung im letzten Jahr. Unter dem Dach der Deutschen TV-Plattform tauschten sich ARD, AG SAT, ANGA, Kabelnetz- und Satellitenbetreiber, Wohnungswirtschaft, Verbraucherzentralen, Elektrohandwerk (ZVEH, Zentralverband der Deutschen Elektro- und Informationstechnischen Handwerke) sowie die Elektro- und Digitalindustrie (ZVEI e.V.) zur Abschaltung aus. Im Vordergrund standen die transparente Kommunikation und die offene Diskussion zwischen allen Beteiligten, um den Beendigungsprozess konstruktiv zu begleiten sowie Probleme möglichst frühzeitig zu identifizieren. Auch wenn die Umstellung im institutionellen Bereich noch nicht abgeschlossen ist, hat der Runde Tisch aktiv dazu beigetragen, dass die Ära der SD-Verbreitung bei der ARD nach über 27 Jahren erfolgreich zu Ende gegangen ist. Die Erkenntnisse und Ergebnisse aus der Runde sind darüber hinaus eine gute Vorlage für die SD-Abschaltung des ZDF, die im November 2025 folgen wird.