Audio Video News

DTV bodes well for the Korean electronics industry: Korean television manufacturers better than tripled their volume of digital TV exports in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

On November 16, the Korea Times reported that Korea's digital TV exports between January and September of 2002 reached 470,000 units, a factory-to-dealer value of $590 million. The totals represent a 330.1% increase in unit volume and a 317.3% rise in revenue, compared to the previous year.

Plasma screens, LCD screens, projection TVs, and cathode ray TVs have all done well this year, with the holiday buying season still not in full swing. The Korean government projects that digital TV exports could hit 735,000 units or $890 million by the end of the year.

Through September, shipments of plasma display panel (PDP) TVs totaled $190 million, up 440.5% monetarily, or 57,000 units, a 631.1% unit rise from a year ago. Projection TV exports rose 430.3% to 156,000 units or 360.6% to $200 million, with liquid crystal display (LCD) TV exports up 332.5% to 130,000 units ($94 million). Cathode-ray tube TV exports rose 204.2 percent to 130,000 units, a value of $102 million. The Korean electronics industry projects that the worldwide market for DTV sets will reach $34 billion by 2006.