Only 27% of the channels that broadcast in SD do so with MPEG-4 compression

For its part, of the 3,836 HD channels in the world, around 86 percent broadcast under the MPEG-4 standard.

Of the total of 23,182 channels that still broadcast in standard definition (SD), according to a study by Northern Sky Research (NSR), only 27% use MPEG-4 compression instead of the MPEG-2 standard. This study makes it clear that despite being a more recently developed standard and with greater performance and optimization, the majority of broadcasters have not yet taken the step to MPEG-4.

Even in markets with high business potential such as North America, Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, MPEG-2 continues to dominate. About 80 percent of channels in North America are in MPEG-2, while 90 percent of Western European channels work in this format. Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, has about half of all channels broadcasting under MPEG-4.

The true migration to MPEG-4 environments has been experienced in high definition channels. In this case, of the 3,836 HD channels in the world, around 86 percent broadcast under the MPEG-4 standard.

These differences in the adoption of standards are due to the fact that the arrival of MPEG-2 digital broadcasting represented a quantum leap in channel diversity, making satellite broadcasting much more profitable. Likewise, the growth of HD/3D channels is directly related to the adoption of MPEG-4. It is to be expected that something similar will happen with the emergence of Ultra HD and the adoption of HEVC coding.