CE firms thinking out of the box
Most of the talk about Broadband Delivered Video & TV assumes a Set Top Box (STB) is required. Well there comes a time when we’ve got enough STB’s in the living room thank you. So Consumer Electronics (CE) firms are exploring services and products delivering video content to TVs using non-traditional methods.
This topic get’s some coverage in a new study by IMS Research with the snappy title of “Hybrid Set-top Box Developments and the Impact of Other Hybrid Equipment.” According to the company’s research director and study author, Anna Hunt, ““Integration of digital receiver technology into DVD and blue-laser products and into TV sets, as well as IP-enabling of many CE devices such as game consoles, is becoming much more popular. This trend illustrates that in the future, many CE devices, beyond the STB, will deliver digital video content to the TV set.” IMS Research forecasts that in 2012, over 200 million devices such as these will ship worldwide. Hunt adds, “With services such as Joost and Xbox LIVE Marketplace, as well as content providers’ initiatives to deliver content directly to consumers, traditional cable and satellite TV operators will continue to face challenges relating to the integration of new concepts and technologies into their service and content strategies in order to remain competitive.” Many established companies, such as Google, Amazon, and NBC, as well as newer entrants such as Joost and BIBC, are aggressively pursuing opportunities in delivering content to consumers via the Internet to the PC or via IP to the TV set.
So I think it’s fair to assume we will see some interesting new hybrid and integrated services announced at CES in January. www.cesweb.org
IMS Research estimates that in 2007, about 30.7 million IP-enabled consoles will ship worldwide as well as over 6 million devices such as digital media adapters, SlingCatcher, Apple TV, and Media Center PCs.
More information on this study at www.imsresearch.com or free download at www.bibc.com
