The survey, which was limited to residential users, was carried out by Ernst and Young via telephone interviews after respondents were chosen at random. A total of 801 households participated in this survey.
According to the survey, 1% of Maltese households have no TV sets at home. On the other hand, 27% of households have one TV set at home, 48% have two TV sets, 17% have three TV sets, while 5% of households have four TV sets. 2% of Maltese households have more than five TV sets at home. Interestingly, the survey also shows that 67% of Maltese households today have at least one HD TV set at home. In the 2013 survey 57% of Maltese households were reported to have at least one HD TV set.
In terms of quality satisfaction levels, an average of 77% of Pay-TV subscribers say they are satisfied or highly satisfied with the quality of their TV connection, of which, 84% are GO TV subscribers and 70% are Melita Digital subscribers. For the rest of those households that are not quite satisfied with the quality levels, channel line up has been cited as the main cause of dissatisfaction with the TV service of both operators. The second most commonly cited reason for dissatisfaction is frequent disconnections of service.
The findings of the survey also show that a great number of households are not familiar with the basic terms and conditions of their contract, with 43% and 20% of Melita digital subscribers and GO TV subscribers respectively not aware of their subscription (contract) period. Similarly, around 19% of Pay-TV subscribers do not know how much they are paying for their TV service. 47% of all GO TV subscribers and 34% of all households with a Melita connection conclude that price levels are neither expensive nor cheap.
According to the survey 20% of households with a Pay-TV connection are subscribed to one or more premium channels (such as sports or movie channels).
Meanwhile the survey also reports that 4% of Maltese households only receive a free-to-air broadcasting service. Moreover, circa 30% of households [around 49,000 Maltese households] claim to have satellite TV or an IPTV box. 84% of households with a satellite TV or an IPTV box got the service because of a better channel line up while 17% got this service because of a better price. Interestingly, 79% of households with a satellite TV or an IPTV will not remove their GO or Melita connection. Only 5% consider removing their GO or Melita service while 8% will consider downgrading the service.
The survey also highlights that 4% of households with a Pay TV subscription have switched from one type of TV connection to another over the last two years.
The survey also sheds light on the viewership of TV content over the Internet, with 53% of households claiming to use the Internet to watch TV. In the 2013 survey 26% of households had claimed to view TV via the internet. More interesting is the fact that 63% of these households always / often consider Internet TV as a good substitute to traditional TV. TV series, followed by live streaming programmes and news have been found to be most viewed over the Internet.
With respect to the Digital Audio Broadcasting plus (DAB+) radio sets the survey shows that 13% of households use such a platform. 91% of households with a DAB+ radio set claim to be highly satisfied with the quality of service it provides.
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