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most popular form of consumption,
broadcast will remain the most efficient way
of delivering such major TV channels for
many years to come. This will drive the
continued need and popularity of STBs and
IDTVs, and the development of Home
Gateways. The cloud could start to replace
some services such as PVRs, where
programme rights and legislation allow,
though consumer adoption will take some
time.
Home Gateway Initiative: The Home
Gateway is an essential hardware and
software building block in the digital home,
connecting consumers with broadband
access, multiple end devices and many
services. Cloud services need interconnection
and APIs to control and manage home based
important
trend in the
media
industry as it
offers many
benefits to
both service
providers and
consumers.
However, we
believe having
a powerful
STB or home
gateway in the
home is still one of the best strategic
decisions operators can make to give both
consumers and themselves the most
flexibility now and to be ready for the future.
Internet connected Smart TVs can enable
broadcasters and other service providers
(not only pay-TV) to use IP and cloud
services to supply services directly to the
consumer though branded experiences,
offering new ways to boost viewer numbers
and improve customer engagement and
loyalty.
Irdeto expects that Smart TVs will
continue to grow in importance, due to
screen size, quality and their social function
in the home. This is a fact borne out in
Irdeto research at IBC last year which found
that 41% of industry professionals see Smart
TVs as crucial to
future strategy for
operators, compared
to 33% for tablets and
12% for smartphones.
Kaltura: Usage of the big screen will get
more and more common, as OTT is shifting
from second screen to the first screen. Home
Gateways and Smart TVs will be more
popular and gain more market share than
they do now.
Rovi: STBs and Home Gateways are likely
to diminish in value as Consumer devices
such as Smart TVs and Mobile become
increasing capable, armed with CI+
interfaces, and support IP-based DRM.
Cloud-based content delivery and DVR
solutions will improve to the point that a
Smart TV, game console, or mobile device,
bundled with the correct application, will
match today’s experiences.
S3 Group: The scalability and flexibility of
the cloud will result in many of the functions
required of the end-to-end TV platform
migrating over time from the home devices
into the cloud. However, the receiver devices
in the home will continue to have a critical
role to play as the ultimate influence over the
end user experience; all the most amazing
cloud-based technology in the world is worth
“Shifting to the cloud is definitely an
important trend in the media industry”
devices and data. While over-the-top
approaches and proprietary cloud-home
APIs are commonly seen, the industry is also
assessing opportunities for standardised
interfaces that will help build a wider, more
interoperable system of service and device
vendors in, for example, smart home
services. In a pure cloud approach, media
and content protection is left to the end
points - whereas HGI is also investigating
the advantages of media handling features in
an evolved Home Gateway, called the Media
Gateway (MG). The MG is an evolved HG
that aggregates STB-like features, media and
content protection translation, and
integrated tuners or IPTV decoding.
Humax: Even in a market where this has
been solved, most operators will prefer to
have their own CPE in a customer’s home in
order to maintain a better access to their
consumer. It is also reasonable to expect that
the role of the STB manufacturer will have to
change and that services and cloud-based
infrastructure products will form part of the
portfolio.
Irdeto: Shifting to the cloud is definitely an
16 EUROMEDIA
Market trade value
$20bn
Global STB shipments in 2013
remained relatively stable, despite
competition from other devices such
as Smart TVs and Digital Media
Adaptors, according to the latest
research - Global Set-Top-Box Market
Update Report - from Futuresource
Consulting.
“In 2013, the STB market trade value
totalled $20 billion with an ASP (average
selling price) of $74 and prices ranging
from less than $30 to more than $300,”
advises Jack Wetherill, senior market
analyst at Futuresource Consulting.
Emerging markets accounted for
around 70% of global demand in units,
with the Asia Pacific market making up
44% of this global demand. Emerging
markets’ value accounted for less than
60% as many of these countries have a
relatively low price point for STBs.
“HD STBs represented 53 per cent of
worldwide shipments in 2013, and
moving forward this will rise to over 95
per cent of worldwide shipments in
2018,” says Wetherill. “However, there is
a great disparity between regions in the
adoption of HD. HD STBs already
account for 95 per cent of shipments in
North America, whereas LatAm and MEA
are at 28 per cent and 35 per cent
respectively. Digital Video Recorders
(DVR) comprised 16 per cent of total
shipments in 2013 which equated to 40
per cent of value, and will peak in 2015.
North America and Western Europe have
a 69 per cent combined share of the
global volumes.”
MHG (Multimedia Home Gateway)
totalled five million units in 2013 and
growth will continue throughout the
forecast period with North America
accounting for the majority of volumes,
driven by Whole Home DVR.
HEVC chipsets will emerge in volume
in 2015 and will grow to account for
more than 60% of the global market by
2018, as the HEVC offers improved
bandwidth efficiency to allow more HD
channels. However, UHD (4K) services
are expected to remain niche for several
years due to lack of clear business
model.
Looking further ahead to 2018,the
outlook is relatively stable, with growth
in developing markets largely
compensating for decline in North
America and Western Europe.