Two new reports paint an optimistic, if obvious, upward picture for IPTV over the next couple of years. By 2011, around 1.5 million UK households will be watching TV over an internet connection, according to the Center for Telecoms Research (reported by IPTVNews). That’s up from only 80,000 in 2006, but all the conditions are there - 50 percent of UK households are already broadband-enabled, Virgin Media is rolling out 20Mbit service, testing 50Mbit and BT will be offering 24Mbit next year when it upgrades its aging nationwide copper network to digital. Meanwhile, intense competition and consolidation has offered low-cost multiplay offerings including IPTV services over ADSL from Tiscali, Orange and BT amongst others. Hybrid DTT/IPTV set-top boxes will drive take-up further, while broadband penetration will grow to 85% of households by 2011, the Center’s UK Internet Services Market report says.

SEE ALSO: Ofcom: Half Of UK Homes Have Broadband; ISP Revenue Up 18 Percent

Meanwhile, iSuppli forecasts the global IPTV market will grow “at a compound annual rate of 92.5 percent over the next five years”, from 3.9 million subscribers in 2006 to 103 million in 2011. TeleClick reports: “Subscription revenue will grow more than 40-fold over the same period, iSuppli predicts, from $960.5 million to $39.1 billion.”