• by John Gaffney , May 9, 2002

Boston-based research firm TRACE strategies says that the digital video recorder market will shift it from an early-adopter service supported by few, toward being a mainstream digital television feature supported by many.

Research findings from the report show that through 2005, U.S. household penetration of personal video recording services will experience average year-to-year growth of 150%, reaching 36.1 million homes by the end of 2005. Leading the market's household expansion will be the rollout by cable operators of new integrated cable-delivered PVR platforms and services from companies such as Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta, Digeo, Keen Personal Media, Concurrent Computer, and SeaChange International, which are projected to reach 20.3 million cable households by the end of 2005.

Lagging behind will be set-top devices currently on the market from TiVO and Sonic Blue. Household penetration of stand-alone PVR services from those two companies will grow by 38% through 2005, but account for 3% of households receiving PVR services. The report found that integrated DBS-delivered PVR services from providers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications Corporation will grow at a much slower rate when compared to cable-delivered PVR services.

Those cable-delivered services will come from Adelphia, Charter, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable. In fact, by the end of 2005, these five cable operators will collectively provide integrated cable-delivered PVR services to 76% of cable households, while at the same time take household share away from both DBS-delivered PVR service providers and stand-alone PVR service providers.