There’s no question that watching television has been a favorite pastime since it first emerged into mainstream society decades ago in black and white. But take the rapidly evolving media technology seen in this past decade alone, combine it with global censorship regulations that prevent people from enjoying premium viewership for free and add in some old-fashioned market competition, and you’re left with a seemingly unpredictable predicament – for example, suddenly there’s no Breaking Bad for Dish Network. Perhaps things are less complicated in Europe where analysts have picked up on a recent phenomenon with some staying in power.

Recent reports indicate that there has been an explosion of pay-TV service in Europe, and analysts predict a promising future for telcos in this market. In fact, the report is actually called, “Telcos Strike Back.” Over the past year, pay-TV has increased by 10 million and is predicted to hit 152 million by 2017. One report states, “DTH satellite delivered pay-TV will overtake cable as Europe’s favorite TV technology.”

A couple of reasons as to why Telcos are surpassing cable is that they are offering quad play to cable service’s triple play, and offering their own broadband services. In another report that adds additional insight to Europe’s new preferences in TV, telcos in Sweden are making substantial investments in ADSL2 and fiber networks in order to gain some serious leverage over the competition.

In other news related to TV, research firm Markets and Markets predicts that the social TV market will reach $256.44 billion by 2017. Social TV, which could be described as a hybrid between television and a social network, is a burgeoning market due to people’s desire to have a more interactive and dynamic viewing experience. Perhaps “smellevision” isn’t such a far-reaching idea anymore?