Digital Terrestrial TV Set-Top Box Boom Imminent, Says In-Stat

LONDON — Market research company In-Stat has predicted that the worldwide retail value of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) set-top boxes (STBs) will boom in 2006 and carry on growing to reach $10 billion in value in 2009.

In-Stat (Scottsdale, Ariz.) did not give an indication of the size of the market for STBs in 2005 or 2006.

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 soccer tournament drives the uptake of DTT STBs as it is expected to do. At the same time Japan and China are emerging markets for DTT STBs that support high definition, In-Stat said.

China is expected to turn on their local DTT services during 2007, and this will drive large unit shipments of entry-level high-definition TV STBs in 2008 and 2009

"The big trend going forward will be the emergence of DTT set-top boxes with built in personal video recorder functionality, because these add convenience to end users who need to navigate ever-expanding programming choices," said In-Stat analyst Gerry Kaufhold, in a statement.In-Stat said that a number of countries are turning on local DTT broadcasts and this trend is beginning to accelerate which will drive the market for STBs. At the same time in the U.S. which has been dominated by cable delivery of programming DTT is being offering as a low-cost alternative.