PC-TV Tuner Market to Thrive as Analog Cut-Off Moves Out, Reports In-Stat/MDR

[Gregg Lengling]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov 13, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- To date, the Analog PC-TV Tuner market has developed steadily, but not at a spectacular rate. However, according to high-tech market research firm, In-Stat/MDR (http://www.instat.com), new applications will emerge in the next five years that will add some spice to the mix, and various geographic regions will provide distinct, strong market growth for selected products within the general category of PC-TV Tuners (both analog and digital).

With most countries that are introducing Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services accepting the fact that it will be at least 2010 before they can begin shutting down their existing analog TV infrastructure, In-Stat/MDR believes that the market for Analog PC-TV Tuner products will continue to grow, and even to outpace, many of the "digital-only" product categories.

One of the most exciting new opportunities for Analog PC-TV Tuner products will be in MediaCenter PCs, which will provide the ability to capture a TV program, digitize it and store it on the computer's hard disk drive to provide Personal Video Recorder (PVR) applications to consumers around the world. "While much has been made of the rise of Digital Television technologies, from Digital Satellite services, to Digital Cable TV systems, to Digital Video from local Telephone Companies, to the continuing emergence of Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) services, Analog Television service and the market for Analog PC-TV Tuner products is not going to go away anytime soon," said Gerry Kaufhold, a principal analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "In fact, the United States, Taiwan and Italy may need to re-think their early plans for Analog Cut Off (ACO)."