VeCast Markets

Consumer adoption of digital TV : The incredible popularity of DVD players, coupled with the increasing interest in plasma and LCD displays, is driving consumer adoption of digital TVs around the world. Governments worldwide are pushing for change as they look to reap the rewards of repurposing the analog spectrum.
Sale driven by TV content: Although a global phenomenon, penetration of DTVs into specific regions will vary greatly. At this point, HDTV content delivery, and therefore HD set adoption, is essentially limited to Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the United States for the foreseeable future. Digital TV in other parts of the world will continue to be driven by advances in flat-panel displays and the red-hot DVD market, which has seen global shipments reach approximately 200 million since being introduced in 1997, and is expected to grow a third larger this year.
Potential of digital TV: Less than 20% of U.S. DTV households are watching HD content.
New sales channel: Traditional electronics retailers are where the majority of CE and DTV sales are made, but new channels including club stores, online/direct sellers, and discount retailers are playing an increasing role, driving down average prices and squeezing gross margins.
Bigger TV screen: The most common television screen size in homes is 27 inches today; however, DTVs have a larger average size because most sets sold to date have been large-screen TVs. We expect the average size of digital TVs to grow over the next few years, then begin to decline as consumers buy smaller screen DTVs to replace the analog TVs in secondary locations.
More HD viewers: Europe: By 2008, 10% of European TV homes will be HD-enabled, but most will be watching SD or high-definition DVDs, according to Strategy Analytics. Of the enabled total, 2.6 million are expected to be actively watching HD broadcasts. But key events, such as the 2008 Summer Olympics, will help drive take-up, with 1.4 million homes expected to watch the event in HD.
Government promotes: Japan: In 2000, seven channels started being transmitted by satellite, and last year's DTT rollout was another boon, with more than half of the programming HD. By end-2003, 3.15 million enabled sets had been sold in Japan, which has 43.4 million TV homes, and DTT has pushed momentum since then. The government is pushing the services and has organized public displays.