Skip to main content

Growth of HD STBs in North America is Subjective

As the world continues to migrate from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) television, the impact on the pay-TV digital set-top box (STB) market is somewhat subjective.

There will likely be a reduction in SD STB revenue from current levels of 1.4 billion, eventually declining to 438 million by 2014. Meanwhile, HD personal video recorder (PVR) set top box revenues could potentially increase by 61 percent over the same time period, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.

However, I believe that the continued adoption of purpose-built low-cost IP video players, such as Roko, could have a very significant negative impact on demand for traditional STB devices. Particularly in North America, where pay-TV service fees are very high and continue to rise.

In-Stat's market study findings include:

- Total worldwide digital STB unit shipments will decrease by 10 percent from 2009 to 2014.

- Digital PVR STB unit shipments will increase 57 percent by 2014.

- Of the worldwide total of all digital STB unit shipments, only Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe will see increases over the next 5 years.

- With a market share of 36 percent, Asia dominates the worldwide digital set top box market.

- Among the major geographic regions growth of HD set top boxes will be strongest in the Western European market.

Popular posts from this blog

Trends Shaping the Global Smartphone Market

There is a pivotal shift within the global smartphone market. Recent data from IDC highlights a more cautious outlook for 2025, with projected worldwide smartphone shipments seeing a significantly reduced growth rate. This revised forecast underscores the intricate interplay of global economic factors and geopolitical dynamics on pervasive personal communication devices. IDC's latest update projects a mere 0.6 percent growth in worldwide smartphone shipments for 2025, a stark reduction from the earlier 2.3 percent expectation. Global Smartphone Market Development This recalibration is largely attributed to prevailing economic uncertainties, including inflationary pressures and rising unemployment, alongside the persistent specter of tariff volatility. Despite these global tensions, it's interesting to note that the United States and China are still identified as the primary drivers of this modest growth. China, a critical market, is forecast to achieve a 3 percent year-over-yea...