Facing Competition, Operators Take More Set-Top Box Risks
- Posted: Saturday, July 12, 2008
- |
- Author: pradhana
- |
- Filed under: Miscellaneous
Faced with stiff competition in the cable market and from telcos vying for TV viewers, traditionally risk-averse cable operators are becoming increasingly “bipolar,” supporting a roadmap that may require the deployment of new STBs with more advanced features and functions, while also apparently aiming to drive the ubiquitous STB to extinction.
Meanwhile, STB vendors are offering a variety of new features to entice operators. When it comes to STBs, operators have traditionally tread carefully, and have largely been unwilling to “shop around” much for new technologies.
According to ABI Research analyst Paulhwa Lee, “Because some operators are facing stiffer competition, they are now willing to experiment a little more, venturing into offerings such as Electronic Program Guides, wireless support, home networking support for MOCA or HomePlug, and expanded hard drives – all at increasingly affordable prices.”
There is also a growing trend toward partnerships and consolidation. For example, STB giant Motorola has acquired a Chinese STB vendor, Dahua Digital; decoder manufacturer Broadcom has partnered with Chinese STB vendor Coship; and decoder manufacturer NXP has acquired Conexant’s STB operations.
Some operators, too, are partnering with new STB manufacturers. This is because as the United States market matures, subscriber growth slows and evolves towards STB replacement. STB sales may still be driven by one-off developments such as the CableCARD mandate, the digital to analog transition, and the unification of data and video. But operators know that these transitions are CAPEX-intensive. At every opportunity, operators are trying to standardize and commoditize STBs by formulating standards and consortia such as tru2way and CableLabs, so many STB manufacturers are looking to fresh markets in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. [ABI Research]
Search-
E-Commerce Optimization-
Nice Offers, Great Savings-
Recent Comments-
Sponsor Ad-
Blog Feeds-
Sponsor Ad-
You Are The Visitor No:-
Categories-
- 3G Handset (35)
- 3G Networks (3)
- 4G (2)
- Adobe (4)
- Android Phone (16)
- Apple (63)
- Artisteer (1)
- Bandwidth (1)
- Biometric (1)
- Biometric Spending (1)
- Blackberry (15)
- Bluetooth (10)
- BREW (3)
- Broadband (34)
- BTS (2)
- Business Applications (1)
- BWA (1)
- CDMA (6)
- China Mobile (2)
- Cisco (1)
- CPE (1)
- Digital Media (26)
- DTT Service (1)
- Electronic Crime (1)
- FCC White Space (2)
- Femtocell (12)
- Firefox (1)
- Fixed-Broadband (1)
- Fixed-Mobile Convergence (3)
- Gadget (55)
- Global Education (1)
- Go Green (1)
- Google (32)
- Google Android (28)
- Google's Chrome (2)
- GPS Devices (3)
- Handset (34)
- Hard Drive (2)
- HDTV (2)
- Hewlett-Packard (1)
- Home Area Networks (3)
- HSDPA (18)
- HSDPA Handset (1)
- HSPA (3)
- HTC (13)
- IMS (1)
- Inflight WiFi Access (2)
- Internet Camera (2)
- Internet Phone (1)
- Internet Users (2)
- iPad (10)
- iPhone (81)
- iPhone Security (1)
- iPlayer (1)
- iPod (12)
- IPTV (4)
- iTunes (1)
- Laptop (2)
- Latitude (1)
- LBS Infrastructures (2)
- LBS Service (5)
- LG (18)
- LiMo (1)
- Linux (4)
- LTE (31)
- m-payment (2)
- M2M Devices (1)
- Market Survey (77)
- Merger and Acquisition (4)
- Microsoft (11)
- Miscellaneous (104)
- Mobile 3G (21)
- Mobile Advertising (13)
- Mobile Applications (10)
- Mobile Broadband (4)
- Mobile Business (4)
- Mobile Consumers (1)
- Mobile Content (37)
- Mobile Data (3)
- Mobile Device (4)
- Mobile Features (1)
- Mobile Future (1)
- Mobile Gaming (5)
- Mobile Internet (4)
- Mobile Music (2)
- Mobile Network (2)
- Mobile Phone Sales (2)
- Mobile Services (46)
- Mobile TV (20)
- Mobile Web Browser (3)
- Mobile Web Development (1)
- Mobile Web Security (1)
- Mobile WiMAX (34)
- Motorola (22)
- Mozilla (1)
- MP3 Player (5)
- Multimedia (1)
- My Column (37)
- MySpace (6)
- Netbook (4)
- New Format (3)
- New Music Experience (1)
- NextGen Mobile (1)
- Nokia (46)
- Non-Handset (1)
- NTT DoCoMo (8)
- Opera (13)
- Presto Application (1)
- Qualcomm (10)
- RFID (11)
- RIM (4)
- RTIV (1)
- Samsung (27)
- Search Ads (1)
- Skype (7)
- Smartphone (79)
- Social Networking (9)
- Sony Ericsson (29)
- Storage (3)
- Strategic Partnership (3)
- Symbian OS (1)
- Toshiba (1)
- Twitter (2)
- Ultra Mobile Device (2)
- User Generated Content (1)
- Verizon Wireless (3)
- Video Server (1)
- Vision (1)
- VoIP (12)
- VoWi-Fi (1)
- WCDMA (2)
- Web 2.0 (6)
- Wi-Fi (45)
- Wi-Fi Hotspots (4)
- WiMax (59)
- Windows Mobile (12)
- Wireless Service (48)
- Wireless Video (3)
- Yahoo (6)
- YouTube (4)
- Zumobi (1)
- Zune (4)
Blog Archive-
Lemon Twist Blogger Template is an extremely beautiful blogger template created by JackBook.Com based on Lemon Twist Wordpress themes by farfromfearless.com. Thanks to Chris Murphy and Jacky Supit for this great template.
- Copyright © 2008-2011 Mobile & Wireless. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Blogger
- Back To Top
- Log in
- Blogger
- Home
Recommended Links-