Share of TV households with analog or digital antenna TV in Germany 2005-2019

In 2019, roughly six percent of German TV households had digital television reception via antenna. Analog antenna connection refers to television reception through transmitted analog signals, while digital television uses digital encoding. The two connection types differ in terms of image and sound quality, with digital TV offering a significantly improved viewing experience also through high definition television (HDTV).

Analog and digital

Analog TV is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Further statistics on analog or digital TV reception in households show that the number of homes with only analog reception was decreasing year after year, while ownership of at least one device with digital reception was on the rise. The number of households with both types of reception was dwindling as well. When looking at statistics on the number of TV households in Germany by type of reception, the majority had either cable or satellite TV. Cable television is enabled by transmitting radio frequency (RF) signals through a certain type of cable, while satellite TV is self-explanatory.

On TV

The digital TV usage share in Germany has only been going up in recent years. Television in general also remains one of the most popular types of media among German consumers.