Monday February 16, 2009 – Maya Jasmin
With digital television at the forefront of everyone’s agenda, it’s important to recognize how prolific the technology truly is, way beyond buzz about analog transitions and digital converter boxes. Digital television is not a new concept by far and has existed in Pay TV form for many years. And with countries around the world planning and executing mandatory transitions to digital terrestrial transmissions it’s important to put the different DTV platforms into perspective.
Terrestrial reception is by far the leading platform in digital television and will continue to be throughout the foreseeable future. DTC forecast 140 million Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) receivers will ship in 2009 growing to an astronomical 300 million units by 2013. Even with the countries that have yet to transition cyclically adding DTT set top boxes (STB) and Digital-to-Analog (DtA) converter boxes, Integrated Digital TVs (IDTVs) make up an overwhelming majority of DTT receiver shipments throughout the forecasted period.
Albeit in a distant second place, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Satellite receivers still manage to log impressive shipments. Sixty-eight million units are forecasted to ship in 2009, growing to 71.5 million shipments in 2012 which will serve as its peak. The growth will come primarily from emerging DTV markets such as India and Africa.
The digital cable platform is estimated to ship units in the tens of millions with constant year-over-year growth throughout the forecasted period. DTC expects nearly 41 million units to ship in 2009 growing to 44 million in 2013. Expansion of digital cable services in China and plans for populating hybrid analog/digital cable systems with DtA converters in the U.S., are the primary catalysts for growth.
Lastly, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), the most infant Pay TV platform is proving to be the fastest growing in the Pay TV world. IPTV is forecasted to realize a CAGR from 2008-2013 of 13%, and is the only Pay TV platform to experience a double digit CAGR over that time. DTC estimates that IPTV receiver shipments will reach18.5 million in 2009 and grow to 25 million by 2013. With the technology expected to improve and adoption expected to increase IPTV receiver shipments should realize growth for years to come.
If you would like to learn more about the DTV receiver landscape, please visitdtcreports.com/report_stb.aspx. A new report with the above referenced data and much more is now available.
