The growth in TV-over-broadband adoption will slow dramatically in Europe this year, an analyst firm reckons - before the medium has barely begun to win fans. Screen Digest reckons the number of households taking IPTV services like BT (NYSE: BT) Vision will grow by 26 percent - that’s down from 2007’s 45 percent growth.

SEE ALSO: Broadband Content Bits: BT Vision Reaffirms Targets, RTL Joins iTunes

UK IPTV leader BT Vision only has 350,000 subscribers and expects to hit three to five million by between 2009 and 2011, but the segment is proving difficult for other operators - Orange has shelved its UK IPTV plans despite having rolled out in France, Poland, Spain and Jordan; Tiscali has just shut off its Italian service and has made little headway extending its 2006 UK IPTV acquisition Homechoice around the UK.

Still, Screen Digest says IPTV will be the fastest-growing pay-TV platform (after all, its growing from a very low base). It reckons most IPTV operations are loss-making right now, so those sheltered by a larger telco owner are more likely to succeed - except if their owners decide to make cost cuts (IPTV is an easy option for the chop). In IPTV is most popular in France.