Cable Set-Tops Up in a Down Market

According to Infonetics Research, cable set-top box sales were up in the first quarter of 2014, although the overall set-top market was down slightly. The research house attributes the growth to North American cable operators transitioning multiplay subscribers to video gateways and replacing older SD boxes with HD boxes.

Infonetics also expects OTT media server deployments to boost overall set-top shipments this year as service providers in China and other emerging markets use the devices to stream live TV. Among other findings:

• Worldwide set-top box (STB) revenue totaled $4.8 billion in 1Q14, a decline of 3% from 4Q13.
• Cable STBs were the only segment to see unit and revenue growth in 1Q14, each up 5%.
• ARRIS finished 1Q14 as the STB market share leader for the third consecutive quarter, benefitting from the HD cable STB refresh cycle underway at North American cable operators.
• North America today commands the largest portion of STB revenue, but Asia Pacific is projected to close to within 3 percentage points by 2018, driven by a penetration of advanced services such as HD and OTT, which is expected to set in motion an upgrade cycle.
• Infonetics forecasts the OTT media server segment to grow from 6% of global STB revenue in 1Q14 to 14% by 2018.