Economy cools North American digital cable STB market, while China drives Asia Pacific market up

SCOTTSDALE, USA: 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 percent 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 STB manufacturers, six of the remaining eight manufacturers are from China.
* Among the leading cable set top box manufacturers are ADB, ChangHong, Cisco Systems, Coship, DVN Holdings, HUMAX, Jiuzhou, Motorola, Pace Micro Technology, Panasonic, Samsung, Skyworth and Thomson.