Skip to main content

The Global Market Outlook for Pay-TV Technology

As consumer electronics and video entertainment industry analysts are preparing to descend upon Las Vegas once again, to attend the International CES next week, perhaps now is the perfect time to consider the outlook for the evolving pay-TV sector.

Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its latest global market study and associated report, which tracks pay-TV subscribers and video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable and satellite television service providers.

"Pay-TV providers are sweating their existing encoding assets as they wait for the next generation of platforms that support HEVC (high efficiency video coding) so they can reduce current bandwidth requirements while preparing for ultra-definition TV, such as 4K," said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay-TV at Infonetics Research.

According to the Infonetics global market assessment, demand for contribution encoders among broadcasters will remain steady through 2017, with increases in spending due to the long-term transition to support HEVC and newer high-definition video formats.


Other findings from the market study include:
  • Infonetics expects the global broadcast and streaming video equipment market to decline about 9 percent in 2013 to $1.39 billion, then it will grow throughout the forecast period up to 2017.
  • Content delivery network (CDN) edge servers, which serve as streaming video pumps for over-the-top (OTT) and unicast content, are forecast by Infonetics to grow at a 21 percent CAGR from 2012 to 2017.
  • Spending on video-on-demand (VOD) playout servers is expected to decline in the short term, though pay-TV providers will continue to use them while shifting spending to CDN edge servers to support multiscreen and OTT video content.
  • Multiscreen broadcast encoder revenue is anticipated to increase slightly over the next 4 years as operators transition to software-only platforms and encoders with integrated transcoding.

Popular posts from this blog

Bold Broadband Policy: Yes We Can, America

Try to imagine this scenario, that General Motors and Ford were given exclusive franchises to build America's interstate highway system, and also all the highways that connect local communities. Now imagine that, based upon a financial crisis, these troubled companies decided to convert all "their" local arteries into toll-roads -- they then use incremental toll fees to severely limit all travel to and from small businesses. Why? This handicapping process reduced the need to invest in building better new roads, or repairing the dilapidated ones. But, wouldn't that short-sighted decision have a detrimental impact on the overall national economy? It's a moot point -- pure fantasy -- you say. The U.S. political leadership would never knowingly risk the nation's social and economic future on the financial viability of a restrictive duopoly. Or, would they? The 21st century Global Networked Economy travels across essential broadband infrastructure. The forced intro...