MUMBAI: Pace has raced ahead. The digital set top box (STB) manufacturer has zipped ahead of Motorola, emerging as the No 1 company to ship STBs globally to pay-TV customers in 2009. This is the preliminary finding of a study conducted by UK-based IMS Research’s "The World Market for Set-top Boxes and iDTVs" which is slated to be released soon.
As per the research report, the top five STB manufacturers for 2009 are: Pace, Motorola, Technicolor (formerly Thomson), Scientific Atlanta/Cisco, and Humax.
“Motorola’s position is attributed to its leadership in the cable sector whilst Technicolor’s focus and leadership continues to be in the satellite sector,” the report clarifies.
Last year Pace was in third place behind US-based Motorola and French company Technicolor. But Pace has notched the top spot with a 31 per cent increase in shipments over the year ago period.
The co-author of the study Rebecca Kurlak says, “Pace’s position as the 2009 market share leader can not only be attributed to the company’s December 2007 acquisition of Philips’ STB business, but also due to the company’s continued organic growth. The Philips division, now Pace France, operates as a division that focuses on IP, DTT and linear TV services. This additional facility has allowed Pace’s headquarters in England to remain focused on traditional TV platforms and NDS CAS clients.”
For 2010, IMS Research expects Pace to remain in the top ranking position due to its recent partnership announcements of high definition roll outs for Benelux satellite operator M7 Group and Malaysian satellite operator Astro, in addition to its large contract agreements with DirecTV, UPC and Viasat.
IMS Research‘s report also says the market for STBs is notching up healthy growth as newer nations ramp up to digital. It has estimated that STB shipments grew 15.2 percent year-on-year on a global basis from 2008 to 2009.
The study provides detailed analysis of STB shipments and revenues for 68 countries – and is considered to be the most comprehensive report on the market.
TV households are split by region, country, platform, operator, and digital penetration rate. STB shipments and revenues are broken down by SD/HD picture quality, one-way/two-way data receiving, and by DVR functionality. The report will be published by the end of May 2010.
