Audio Video News

The month of March was the best ever for factory-to-dealer sales of digital television sets and displays, reported the Consumer Electronics Association on April 27. Unit sales totaled 24,332—a 7% increase over February sales, and 343% over March 1999. Since the introduction of DTV in August 1998, a total of 202,586 DTV units has been sold to dealers, according to the CEA's latest figures.

The first quarter of 2000 was also the best ever for DTV receivers—devices that can be connected to monitors to display DTV programming—with dealers having bought 11,796 set-top receivers since the beginning of January, compared to 21,992 in all of 1999.

"DTV sales are still strong and we've had our best month—and best quarter—yet," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. "Consumer interest in this technology is strong, and introductory sales have demonstrated that they want the best picture and sound technology has to offer." Shapiro mentioned that continuing success for equipment manufacturers depends on broadcasters making good on their commitments to DTV programming. "Sales of integrated sets and set-top receivers will continue to reflect the amount of available programming. Broadcasters and other content providers play a critical role in the rate of DTV adoption."

The CEA's long-range projections are based on three possible programming scenarios:

1) If broadcasters choose the "fast lane" to DTV in full compliance with the Federal Communications Commission's rollout schedule while providing a high percentage of digitally originated content to consumers, DTV product market penetration could reach 50% by 2006.

2) If broadcasters take a middle-of-the-road approach of continued station-conversion delays while providing a high percentage of upconverted analog content, DTV penetration might reach no more than 30% of the market by 2006.

3) If broadcasters choose the off-ramp on the road to DTV—characterized by non-HDTV business models (such as datacasting services) and delays related to reopening the DTV standard—DTV penetration might reach only 15% by 2006.