Asia/Pacific Region Lifts Sagging Satellite Set Top Box Market

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Thanks to remarkable shipment growth in Asia/Pacific and particularly India, the worldwide satellite set top box (STB) market chalked up growth in 2008, reports In-Stat. However, outside of Asia/Pacific and Latin America, regional markets remain sluggish or even negative. Another important trend is the rise of High Definition (HD) Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).

“In-Stat expects HD DVRs to overtake shipments of Standard Definition (SD) DVR boxes in 2009, with some providers no longer offering SD DVR boxes,” says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. “More providers will stop offering them in the future, with some going so far as to eliminate all SD boxes from their product lineup in a few years.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The worldwide satellite set top box market grew by 6% in 2008, bolstered by triple-digit growth in the Asia/Pacific region.
• Thomson was the largest provider of satellite set top boxes in 2008. Other STB providers include Coship, EchoStar, Homecast, Humax, KAONMedia, Pace, Samsung, TechniSat, and Altech UEC.
• The semiconductor Bill of Materials (BOM) for Satellite STBs ranges dramatically from under $25 to well over $100 depending on advanced features, hard drive size and the number of supported video streams. Key semiconductor suppliers include ALi, Broadcom, NEC, NXP, STMicroelectronics and Zoran.
• Network connections are becoming increasingly important to support whole-home DVR services, over the top video (OTTV) to the TV, place-shifting, and remote DVR scheduling.

The In-Stat research, Worldwide Digital Satellite Set Top Box Market (#IN0904542ME), covers the worldwide market for digital satellite set top boxes. It includes:

• Unit and revenue forecasts of satellite set top boxes by region and by type through 2013.
• Bill of materials and total available market forecasts through 2013.
• Regional market overviews.
• Box vendor profiles of Coship, EchoStar, Homecast, Humax, KAONMedia, Pace plc, Samsung, Thomson, Altech UEC, and others.
• Silicon vendor profiles of ALi, Broadcom, NEC, NXP, STMicroelectronics, Zoran, and others.