Digital cable set-top box demand falling in 2009

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
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Economy Cools North American Digital Cable Set Top Box Market While China Drives Asia Pacific Market Up, According to In-Stat

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After a record-setting year in 2008, worldwide digital cable set top box (STB) demand is falling in 2009, reports In-Stat. The slowdown in unit shipments and revenue has generally been concentrated in the comparatively advanced cable markets in North America and Western Europe where the economic recession has driven reductions in operator capital expenditure (CAPEX) budgets.

Meanwhile, unit shipments to China are projected to set another record in 2009, approaching 20 million units and lift the overall Asia Pacific market. In addition, increasing digital cable TV service demand is pushing digital cable STBs into new markets in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

“Even with a unit shipment decrease in 2009, the cable set top box market remains dynamic and robust,” says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. “Significant technology transitions, including the transition to MPEG-4 and the move toward a hybrid QAM + IP cable set top box, are creating opportunities for set top box vendors.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

  • Global digital cable set top box unit shipments are projected to reach 47 million in 2009, a decrease of 6% over 2008.
  • Low-cost, digital terminal adapter (DTA) product unit shipments are beginning to have an impact on the North American cable set top box market, especially in product ASPs.
  • While Motorola and Cisco Systems remain the top two cable set top box manufacturers, six of the remaining eight manufacturers are from China.
  • Among the leading cable set top box manufacturers are Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), ChangHong, Cisco Systems, Coship, DVN Holdings, HUMAX, Jiuzhou, Motorola, Pace Micro Technology (Pace plc), Panasonic, Samsung, Skyworth and Thomson.

The research, “The Cable Set Top Box Market: After a Record Year in 2008, Slightly Lower Demand in 2009” (#IN0904475ME) includes the following:

  • Examination of market and product development trends.
  • Worldwide and regional forecasts of cable set top box unit shipments by type through 2013.
  • Feature segmentation includes Hard disk drive (HDD)/Personal Video Recorders (PVR), Basic vs. Advanced, integrated cable modems, and High-definition.
  • Bill of materials and semiconductor total available market forecasts through 2013.
  • Market shares and profiles of leading cable set top box makers.

The price is $3,495.