Free-To-Air Technology Fuels Explosive Growth of Satellite TV Receivers

Research analyst In-Stat/MDR reports that Free-To-Air (FTA) satellite TV receivers will boost shipments of set-top satellite boxes to 71 million in 2008. To give you a historical perspective, in 2004, FTA receiver shipments hit 36 million units, compared to 29 million pay-TV satellite boxes.

The popularity of FTA set-top boxes is largely due to the fact that they provide free, unencrypted programming, a welcome alternative to paid subscription services such as DirecTV and Dish Network. And Free-To-Air technology has become affordable. Falling component prices have led to lower FTA receiver prices. Falling receiver prices sparked sales.

Traditionally, FTA receivers were the province of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. But in the past few years, FTA fever has ignited in North America, increasing not only the number of households in North America that receive TV signals through FTA satellite boxes, but the number of FTA boxes per household. The addition of more and more free-to-air channels, plus continued advances in free-to-air technology, such as new sophisticated video compression algorithms, will continue to push FTA satellite TV into the mainstream, driving up sales of FTA boxes.

FTA receivers aside, the explosive growth in the overall digital satellite receiver market is fueled by other factors, as well. The In-Stat/MDR reports revealed that new satellite services in India, plus the consolidation of technology in the European market has driven many users to swap their old set-top boxes for modern digital satellite technology.