Cable set-top boxes buck usual Q1 lull

Cisco puts up best-ever quarter in STBs

CAMPBELL, California — Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 1st quarter 2013 (1Q13) Set-Top Boxes and Pay TV Subscribers market share and forecast report, which tracks IP, cable, satellite and digital terrestrial (DTT) set-top boxes (STBs) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers.

ANALYST NOTE

“Cable set-top boxes bucked the seasonal trend in the first quarter of 2013, notching modest gains in both revenue and shipments,” reports Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research. “China and India remain strong and growing markets for low-end digital STBs, while Latin America continues to ramp. Meanwhile, North America also grew, thanks to increasing shipments of video gateways and clients.”

SET-TOP BOX MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• The global set-top box market — IP, cable, satellite and DTT STBs, and OTT media servers — totaled $4.4 billion in 1Q13, a decline of 5% from 4Q12
• Only cable STBs and OTT media servers gained on a sequential basis in 1Q13
• 56% of STBs shipped in 1Q13 were basic standard definition boxes, pointing to a larger shipment mix to emerging markets like China and India, where the focus is on digitization rather than advanced services
• Putting up its biggest quarter on record in 1Q13, Cisco extends its worldwide STB revenue share lead
• China Telecom just released a new tender for smart IP STBs for its growing IPTV services in Shanghai and Guangdong, and it is expected this will lead to an increase in IP STB shipments later this year
• Infonetics forecasts telco IPTV subscribers to grow at a 17% compound annual growth rate from 2012 to 2017, the highest of any subscriber category

STB REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ quarterly STB and pay TV subscribers report provides worldwide and regional market size, vendor market share, forecasts through 2017 and analysis for IP STBs; cable and satellite STBs (digital, hybrid, video gateways, media players); hybrid IP/DTT STBs; and OTT media servers. The report also tracks telco IPTV and cable and satellite video subscribers. Companies tracked: Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), Changhong, Cisco Systems, Coship, DVN, Echostar, Huawei, Humax, Jiuzhou, Kingvon, Motorola, Netgem, Pace plc, Sagemcom, Samsung, Skyworth Digital, Technicolor, ZTE and others.