Digital Lifescapes

The pay-TV set top box market is mature -- and has been for some time now. That is to say, it has reached a state of equilibrium. Or put another way, there's an apparent absence of significant new growth. Moreover, some industry analysts might say that meaningful innovation has been missing from this space for a very long time. That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t some segments of the business that are innovating and growing. New In-Stat research has identified the IP set top box market segment as one of the few that is still growing. Based upon the findings of their latest market study, In-Stat is forecasting that worldwide unit shipments will surpass 21 million in 2011. “The recent up-tick in IP set top boxes is a result of Telcos gaining subscribers from cable and satellite providers, as well as replacing the boxes of current subscribers,” says Michelle Abraham, Research Director at In-Stat. Future increases for IP set top box (STB) shipments will lik...

Why are the legacy U.S. cable service providers only now starting to address industry analyst concerns that they seem unprepared for the emerging alternative low-cost over-the-top (OTT) video offerings? Could this unfortunate scenario have been avoided, and did they have the means to counter this offensive? Traditionally, the cable TV industry has relied upon MPEG-based technology to transport digital video signals. But there has also been a longstanding awareness of Internet Protocol (IP) video solutions, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . There's three reasons that MSOs should have acted sooner: In comparison to MPEG, IP is considered to be less-expensive and more efficient. An integrated DOCSIS cable modem is a capable, and yet often underutilized, part of the digital cable set-top box. The availability and applications of IP video has expanded exponentially -- this ongoing transformation was apparent for several years. There's no mystery here. "Whe...