Worldwide PC-TV Tuners: Driven by Digital Broadcasting

The market for PC-TV Tuners is quickly moving from analog to digital, driven by the increased pace of the broadcast television analog-to-digital switchover. In 2005, 60.1% of PC-TV Tuners shipped were analog, but the analog tuner market share dropped to 48.3% in 2006, and then to 39.7% in 2007.

During this same three year time period, digital broadcast television coverage spread rapidly in Western Europe and in the key Asian markets of Korea and Japan. These are markets with a strong tradition of watching over-the-air television programming rather than the premium services offered by Cable and Satellite television services.

The adoption of digital PC-TV Tuners will accelerate in Europe as Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) services continue to expand. In Asia, China and India will present strong growth opportunities. North America is expected to see a surge during 2009, when analog TV is cut off, and new Mobile Digital Terrestrial TV (MDTV) services are introduced by major US TV stations.

PC-TV Tuners face challenges from a variety of other options that consumers have for obtaining video on their PCs, including easy-to-use Cable, TelcoTV, and satellite TV services, Internet distributed video content, IPTV services, and mobile broadband, such as 3G, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX.