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US HD STB experiencing shortages
In recent months demand for HD STBs has outstripped supply In the US. Cox Communications has reported shortages of HD standard and HD PVR STBs in three of its digital cable networks; Kansas/Arkansas, Orange County and New England. Verizon have also reported HD standard and HD PVR STB shortages for its FIOS IPTV network.
Both Cox and Verizon have sited surging subscriber demand as the reason for the shortfall. Motorola exclusively supply STBs to the above networks and have said that they are not having trouble meeting operator demand.
Our take...
STBs represent a significant proportion of any pay TV operators' expenditure, either as CAPEX or customer acquisition. To minimise unnecessary cost many operators prefer 'just in time' STB supply, making multiple orders during any given year rather than making large speculative orders and paying inventory costs. This procurement model relies on an operator's ability to accurately forecast demand for STBs and manufacturers being able to fully deliver orders. The risk associated with this model can be reduced, to some extent, by sourcing STBs from several manufacturers. If an operator's forecast falls under demand, the shortfall can be better serviced by several manufacturers. This method has worked well for operators such as BSkyB, which sources its basic STB from three manufacturers; Amstrad, Pace and Thomson.
The US cable industry is particularly vulnerable to this model because the integrated CA systems securing these networks effectively leave them supplied by a single vendor end-to-end infrastructure; Motorola STBs for Mediaciper CAS and Scientific Atlanta STBs for Powerkey CAS. Licensing agreements allowing other STB manufacturers to make boxes compatible with these two CA systems do exist but are rare, with units being supplied in very low volumes. Verizon is also vulnerable because its STBs are single source bespoke units from Motorola.
The shortages appear to be unique to the above operators and unique to Motorola supplied networks, suggesting that, although demand for HD chipsets is constrained by supply, it is likely that chipset shortage is not the cause of these shortfalls. Over 3 million HD STBs were shipped to US cable operators in 2007. A 40% increase on the previous year.
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Analyst, market intelligence & notices
Reports
Articles
(7) 1-7 showing
FCC bonanza in spectrum auction
Contenders have bid $20bn for frequencies released bythe forthcoming analogue switch-off. Verizon bid the most money, AT&T secured the most licences
published:
23-Apr-08
territories:
USA - North America
Ronan de Renesse
Free-to-air mobile TV market grows
More than 15m people in Asia subscribe to free-to-air mobile TV services
published:
01-Nov-07
territories:
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea. Rep [S], Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA - World
Ronan de Renesse
Broadcasting on the Internet
A listing of the online video sites operated by broadcasters or which are displaying broadcast content.
published:
15-May-07
territories:
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA - Europe, Nordic Region, North America
Tim Westcott
Rise of high definition TV channels
At the end of 2006 there were 106 high definition television channels worldwide. We forecast there will be 250 by 2010, 120 of them in Europe
published:
25-Jan-07
territories:
UK, USA, Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Korea. Rep [S], Poland, Sweden, France - Europe, Nordic Region, North America
Vincent Létang
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Western Europe
Demand by country