Audio Video News

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) believes that digital television sales will go off the chart this year.

If January is any indication, the trade group's hopes are likely to be exceeded. In the first month of this year, sales of DTV products grew 36% over the same period in 2002. Factory-to-dealer sales totalled 196,113 units, fueling a 16% rise in revenue. CEA member companies sold $304.1 million worth of DTV products in the first 31 days of 2003.

The historical context is that by New Year's Eve 2002, almost five million DTV products had been sold—or approximately $8.6 billion invested by consumers in the new technology since it first went on the market in 1998. That figure could almost double by the end of this year, to more than $15 billion, according to CEA projections.

"These sales figures tell a compelling story about the rapid growth of this technology and the increasing numbers of consumers who are watching and enjoying digital television every day," said CEA President Gary Shapiro. "Consumers' awareness of increased DTV programming this spring—including the NCAA Basketball Championships, the launch of ESPN HD and the first HDTV broadcast of the Oscars—contributed to the strong January sales. Based on how the year has started, 2003 should be another banner year for DTV."

The CEA defines DTV products as "integrated sets and monitors displaying active vertical scanning lines of at least 480p and, in the case of integrated sets, receiving and decoding ATSC terrestrial digital transmissions." The sales figures and projections were revealed in early April at the CEA's HDTV Update meeting held in Tampa, FL.