USA - Convergence - Digital TV & IPTV

Synopsis

Although the transition to digital TV (ie analogue switch-off) has been proposed for over a decade, by the end of 2008 an estimated 10 million US households were still relying on analogue television. Accordingly, in early January 2009 president-elect Barack Obama requested Congress to consider delaying the switch-off date amid fears that millions of viewers were unprepared for the transition. Meanwhile, the interactive capabilities of digital TV continues to witness the growth of Video-on-Demand services, while sales of DVRs and HDTV simultaneously gather momentum. In 2008 the telcos’ had started becoming notable participants in the TV market, with Verizon’s FiOS TV making it close to the top-10 in terms of subscriber numbers. The market is thus moving to a triple play model in which the telcos, with their expanding fibre network deployments and new IPTV offerings, are likely to become a major force. The other significant trend is the increasing use of VoD or downloading as a means of video consumption.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
  
• 2. Overview of the broadcasting market
  
  • 2.1 Analysis
    
    • 2.1.1 Satellite versus cable versus Telco IPTV
      
    • 2.1.2 High Definition TV (HDTV)
      
    • 2.1.3 DVRs to impact US TV advertising market
      
• 3. Regulatory issues
  
  • 3.1 Analogue switch-off
    
  • 3.2 Franchise laws
    
  • 3.3 À la carte
    
  • 3.4 TV white spaces decision
    
• 4. Digital TV
  
  • 4.1 IPTV
    
    • 4.1.1 IPTV market overview
      
    • 4.1.2 FttH/FttC/FttN networks
      
    • 4.1.3 Verizon’s FiOS TV
      
    • 4.1.4 AT&T’s U-Verse Video
      
    • 4.1.5 Video-on-Demand (VoD)
      
  • 4.2 Cable DTV
    
    • 4.2.1 Overview
      
    • 4.2.2 Cable statistics
      
  • 4.3 Satellite Direct Broadcasting Service (DBS)
    
    • 4.3.1 Overview
      
    • 4.3.2 DISH Network
      
    • 4.3.3 DIRECTV
      
  • 4.4 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV)
    
    • 4.4.1 Overview
      
    • 4.4.2 HD over-the-Air
      
    • 4.4.3 National FTA broadcasters
      
• 5. Consumer electronics
  
  • 5.1 Digital TV sets and HDTVs
    
  • 5.2 DVRs
    
• 6. Related reports
  

• Table 1 – Broadcasting coverage, subscribers, annual change and penetration – 2008
• Table 2 – Market shares of major MSO, DBS and telco video providers – 2005; 2007 - 2008
• Table 3 – Homes passed by cable HDTV service and annual change – 2002 - 2007
• Table 4 – Cable CAPEX, customer and advertising revenues – 1996 - 2007
• Table 5 – Basic cable and digital subscribers – 2000 - 2008
• Table 6 – Top 25 cable MSOs ranked by subscribers & market share – 2008
• Table 7 – DBS versus MSO market shares – 2001 - 2008
• Table 8 – Satellite DBS subscribers by major network – 2000 - 2008
• Table 9 – DISH ARPU, churn and subscriber acquisition costs – 2005 - 2008
• Table 10 – DIRECTV ARPU, churn and subscriber acquisition costs – 2005 - 2008
• Table 11 – Digital TV sets sales and revenues – 2000 - 2008

• Exhibit 1 – Examples of non-cable VoD services
• Exhibit 2 – National FTA broadcasters – 2008