Cable Passes Satellite as Leading Digital Pay-TV Platform During 2008

Preliminary results from IMS Research’s forthcoming 2009 study on the World Market for Set-top Boxes and iDTVs has revealed that during 2008 the dominant digital pay-TV platform shifted from DTH satellite to digital cable.

According to Stephen Froehlich, a senior analyst in IMS Research’s consumer electronics research group, “Digital cable began the year with 4.5 million fewer digital subscribers than DTH Satellite, but then cable added 32 million new digital subscribers to DTH Satellite’s 16 million. They ended 2008 with 119 million and 130 million paying digital subscribers, respectively.

Froehlich continues, “While 57% of those new digital cable subscribers are in China, almost all of the other new digital cable subscribers are residents of developed countries who upgraded from an analog subscription to a digital one. IMS Research expects this trend to be one of the primary drivers of the digital cable set-top box market for the foreseeable future.”