Digital Satellite Set Continuing to Expand.

According to In-Stat/MDR the market for digital satellite set top boxes continues to expand on a worldwide basis in 2004 due to increases in satellite pay-TV subscribers. The high-tech market research firm expects that this, combined with other factors such as increasing boxes per household in North America, the swapping out of boxes due to conditional access changes in Europe, new service launches in India, and the continued demand for digital Free To Air (FTA) satellite receivers, will drive the total market for digital satellite set top boxes to 71 million in 2008.

“Today, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) or Direct To Home (DTH) is the most popular way to receive digital TV signals in most of the world,” says Michelle Abraham, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. “And, in order to receive and watch the digital content transmitted via satellite on a TV, a consumer must have a digital satellite set-top box.” The first boxes were shipped in 1994 and since then, millions have been shipped around the world, and millions more will continue to be shipped each year. “While the growth of new subscribers to DTH services is slowing down for the entrenched providers that have been operating for a few years, there are still areas in the world without DTH pay-TV services,” says Abraham. “These areas, in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Mid-East, will provide new opportunities for DTH set-top boxes. The FTA box segment, which is not aligned with a particular service provider, has also been growing at a rapid pace and will overtake the pay-TV box segment in shipments in 2004.”

In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

Two important technology changes that will be coming to digital satellite set top boxes are the improved modulation of the DVB-S2 standard and advanced video compression in the form of H.264.

Demand for FTA boxes is due to price declines in all regions, making it possible for more households to buy them. The World Cup and the Olympics are major sporting events that always have consumers thinking about better equipment for TV viewing. In 2004, FTA/CI boxes to reach a new high of 36 million units.