• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 5, 2003

An Improved Picture From Digital Television

Several factors gave new impetus to the digital TV (DTV) set market, according to a new report from In-Stat/MDR, Digital TV Sets: A New Day Has Dawned. The high-tech market research firm reports that with the FCC mandating that DTV tuners be integrated into all TV sets larger than 13-inches by mid 2007, the U.S., the market will see explosive growth.

Michelle Abraham, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR, says "Though digital TV sets began shipping in 1998 in the U.S., 2002 events will cause significant shifts in the future of the market. In addition, the launch of Freeview in the UK (quintupling the number of terrestrial TV channels available free to air) breathes new life into DTT."

Other European countries are expected to go live with digital terrestrial TV in 2003, joining the UK, Finland, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. Digital terrestrial broadcasting will begin in Japan by the end of 2003, joining the current digital broadcast satellite transmissions, encouraging more Japanese consumers to buy digital rather than analog sets. DTV sets have also proven to be a popular item in South Korea and are growing in China.

Worldwide DTV Set
Unit Shipments (units in Millions)

• 2002 6
• 2003 9
• 2004 14
• 2005 19
• 2006 34
• 2007 58
  Source: In-Stat/MDR 1/03

In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

- The worldwide DTV set market in 2007 will reach 58 million units.

- In the area of display technologies, the clean, thin-profile look of flat panel TVs is in demand from consumers who can afford it. New factories will be coming online in the next two years, which will increase the supply of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and plasma panels.

- DTV set manufacturers are adding Ethernet connections to DTV sets.

You can find out more here.