IP Set Top Box Market Spurs New Players and Some Consolidation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Driven by increasing Telco TV deployments, demand for IP set top boxes is growing, and will reach 19 million units in 2010, up from 4.3 million in 2006, reports In-Stat. New box vendors have entered the market within the past year, the high-tech market research firm says, but the important box features–HD, DVR, and digital terrestrial tuners–have not changed.

“There was consolidation in 2006, with Motorola buying Kreatel and Cisco Systems integrating Scientific Atlanta with Linksys and KiSS,” says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. “We see more definitive leaders emerging in IP set top boxes, though the leaders differ by geography.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• DVB-T tuners will be integrated into many boxes for Europe.
• More vendors are offering integrated home networking technologies.
• Component prices will decline, allowing the Bill of Materials (BOM) for an SD H.264 decode-capable box to drop from over $100 in 2005 to $54 in 2010.

Recent In-Stat research, IP Set Top Box Market: Done Waiting for H.264 (#IN0603112ME), covers the worldwide market for Internet Protocol set top boxes. The research contains five-year worldwide forecasts broken down by region for unit shipments, ASPs, revenues, HD box unit shipments, DVR box unit shipments, and DVB-T integrated box unit shipments. It also contains profiles of major set top box manufacturers and analysis of market drivers and barriers.