STB shipmentsfall for firsttime in nine years
By Julian Clover
Published: September 22, 2010 10.26 Europe/London
The number of set-top boxes shipped in the pay-TV industry reached an all time high in 2009 with a total of 127 million units shipped. Yet despite this 3% growth in volumes, Screen Digest’s TV Technology Market Monitor says the value of the sector fell to €9.2 billion with a further fall expected in 2010.
The analyst says the drop in value will be accompanied by a decline in shipment volumes to120 million, the first fall since 2001 amid declining IPTV shipments and a plateau in the demand for set-top boxes from satellite and cable operators. Significantly, More units were shipped to the top 4 western pay TV operators than to the whole of the Chinese pay TV market.
Screen Digest anticipates growth will be restored in 2011 as cable operators pick up on the digital transition, a process previously halted by economic uncertainty.
Motorola is placed as the number supplier of set-top boxes, followed by Pace and Technicolor, though the difference between the manufacturers is said to be wafer thin. While Motorola was the market leader in both volume and revenue terms, Echostar had the highest average selling price for a STB.
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