Costs Come Down, HDTV Set Ownership Up

MRC

A solid majority of U.S. homes now have an HD set, which is up from just 12% five years ago. The Leichtman Research Group reports that 61% of homes have at least one HD set, and about one-quarter have more than one.

HD costs are coming down, with 60% of set owners saying they spent less than $1,000, up from 34% in 2008. Some 61% with annual household incomes over $75,000 have HDTV -- compared to 44% with annual household incomes of $30,000-$75,000, and 29% with annual household incomes under $30,000. Moreover, 38% of HDTV owners have more than one HDTV set.

On the next frontier, 3D TV, Leichtman reports fewer than 1% of homes have one of the fledgling sets. But 80% of adults have heard they are out there, and 8% are "very interested" in buying one.

Consumers who have seen a 3D TV show give it varying approval ratings, with 24% assigning it a rating between 8 and 10 (10 is excellent), but 32% only allotting between 1 and 3.

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The research comes from a survey of 1,308 U.S. homes by Leichtman tabbed "HDTV and 3D TV 2010." The firm has conducted an HDTV study for eight years running.

Leichtman reports that 21% of U.S. homes bought a TV in the last year and 18% plan to buy one in the next year. Bruce Leichtman, president of the company, credits lower prices with expanding the number of HDTV sets. The mean purchase price among those who bought an HDTV set in the past year was about 22% lower than 2009.

1 comment about "Costs Come Down, HDTV Set Ownership Up".
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  1. Michael Sievers from DISH Network, January 18, 2011 at 11:53 a.m.

    I've definitely noticed that costs have gone down. Close to the end of '10 I bought myself a brand new 46" Samsung LED-LCD HDTV and absolutely love it. It works perfect with my DISH Network service and, as both a customer and employee, I can tell you that DISH has more HD channels than any other provider. And, unlike cable, DISH offers qualified customers HD Free for Life with all their top packages. I highly suggest to anyone interested in HD programming that they check out DISH.

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