The move to digital television will be driven by high-definition TV (HDTV) a study has found -- Picture quality is the most important factor in persuading Europeans to ditch their analogue sets, the survey from Jupiter Research finds. It had been assumed that services such as video-on-demand and digital video recorders - that allow users to rewind and pause television programmes - would be the most important factors. But only 10 percent cited these as reasons. Nearly a quarter -- 24 percent -- ranked HDTV as the most important factor in deciding whether to switch to digital television. In terms of existing digital TV penetration, the UK market is the most sophisticated in Europe. Around 60 percent of UK households have already made the switch to digital TV.
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...