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Parks Associates - Television on Consumers' Terms: the Rise of the Set-Top DVR (23/2/2004)

Heightened Competition between Cable and Satellite Television Providers a Key Driver to Growth of Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Set-Top Boxes

The standalone digital video recorder (DVR) will be supplanted by set-top recorders provided by television service providers, according to Multimedia Networks in the Home: Analysis and Forecasts. As cable and satellite operators enter a new phase of heightened competition to attract and retain customers, DVR set-tops will be a key differentiator and the platform from which service providers offer a host of new services, including on-demand content. The report predicts that the number of deployed set-top boxes with time-shifting functionality will grow six times between 2004 and 2008 to reach nearly 25 million U.S. households.

"By deploying set-top boxes with hard-disk drives (HDD), cable and satellite television companies are addressing the growing appetite for digital content while also eliminating subscribers' need for an additional, standalone box," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst for Parks Associates. "The deployment of such set-top boxes, in concert with advanced services such as high-definition television content and video-on-demand, will also create a 'stickier' relationship between the provider and the subscriber during a period of intense competition."

Parks Associates' Multimedia Networks in the Home: Analysis and Forecasts addresses the prospects for entertainment connectivity in the home, including growth projections for platforms sold through retail and distributed via service provider channels. The report, with more than 90 pages of analysis and nearly 100 charts and figures, includes profiles of platforms from both the PC and CE industries and examines the underlying drivers for the growth of multimedia networking.

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