News

Digital Terrestrial TV Set Tops Ready For Blast Off (20/7/2005)

The worldwide retail value of all Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) Set Top Boxes (STBs) will "blast off" during 2006, and power drive up to more than US$ 10 Billion during 2009, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). In a surprising twist, Australia currently leads the world for consumption of High Definition TV (HDTV) Digital Terrestrial Set Top boxes, with North America running in second place. Europe has been the unit shipment and market value leader for several years, and is poised to become the long-term dominating force if the 2006 World Cup Football (Soccer) matches drive strong uptake for new Digital Terrestrial products. Japan and China have emerging markets for DTT STBs that support High Definition.

"The big trend going forward will be the emergence of DTT Set Top Boxes with built in Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality, because these add convenience to end users who need to navigate ever-expanding programming choices," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst.

In-Stat also found the following:

A greater number of countries are turning on local Digital Terrestrial TV broadcasts, and this trend is beginning to accelerate

In the US, US Digital TV (USDTV) is tying together the bit streams of up to six local Digital Terrestrial TV stations, and offering a low-cost alternative to Cable TV services

The next phase of development is focused on advanced set top boxes that support new video Coder/Decoders (Codecs) and include hard disk drives and support for PVRs

China is expected to turn on their local Digital Terrestrial TV services during 2007, and this will drive large unit shipments of entry-level HDTV set top boxes in 2008 and 2009 The report, "Digital Terrestrial TV Set Top Boxes - Finally, The Market Blasts Off!" (#IN0501846ME),covers the worldwide market for digital terrestrial TV set top boxes. It includes unit shipment and dollar value forecasts for Standard Definition and High Definition DTT set top boxes, as well as boxes with built-in PVRs, by region through 2009, and forecasts for the value of components used in production. It also highlights five key trends that will impact the market over the next several years. For Europe, the report also provides discussion of DTT plans, and specific country forecasts, for four categories of DTT set top boxes, for five countries, two sub-regions, and includes a Europe-wide summary.

www.in-stat.com