ABI Research: Hybrid STBs Set to Gain Momentum by 2016

ABI Research (News - Alert), which provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of global trends, has in its latest report presented an overview of the global Set Top Box (STB) market across seven video platforms. It stated that hybrid STBs were bound to increase rapidly by 2016.

The report that includes forecasts for hybrid set-top box shipments as well as cable gateway shipments indicates that although only 40 percent of the STBs featured hybrid capabilities in 2010, they were rapidly being deployed by pay-TV operators worldwide to deliver advanced services to their customers.

“Satellite operators are looking to Internet-enabled set-top boxes to deliver advanced services over-the-top in regions with strong broadband penetration,” said Sam Rosen, senior analyst, digital home, in a press release.

However, according to the analyst, as many operators were still not ready to deploy video services, many STBs were not hybrid enabled.

This situation was likely to change with operators eying video on demand, advertising solutions and interactive content, for in order to decode video sent over the Internet, satellite or terrestrial networks, hybrid STBs would be required. According to the report, if this happens, then hybrid box penetration will exceed 60 percent by 2016.

“Huawei (News - Alert) has powered to first in IPTV set-top box market share from a distant fourth – a sign that APAC IPTV growth will outpace that of Europe in the coming years,” says Jason Blackwell, practice director, digital home.

With Motorola retaining second position and Technicolor (News - Alert) moving a close third, the worldwide leader for STB shipments would be determined by the rate at which it was being adopted.

Analysts believed that operators in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa were seeking to offer national and international feed integrated with local programming to conserve bandwidth. Satellite and Digital Terrestrial platforms were being considered for this.

The report stated that with operators leaning towards the deployment of video services, it was only a matter of time before hybrid STBs gained momentum in the market.