News Analysis

Satellite Operators Buck Global Economic Malaise

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., November 2, 2011--NSR's Global Assessment of Satellite Supply & Demand, 8th Edition study, released today, indicates that satellite operators continue to buck the global economic malaise. In 2010 global satellite operators saw a strong revenue increase of over US$550 million, derived from the lease of commercial satellite capacity. NSR projects that by 2020 capacity leasing revenues will reach US$17.2 billion, up from US$10.1 billion in 2010.

Full text available to subscribers only

Online Video Now Reach 50 Percent of Total U.S. Population Each Month

Reston, VA, October 24, 2011-comScore, Inc. released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 182 million U.S. Internet users, nearly  50% of the U.S. population, watched online video content in September  for an average of 19.5 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in 39.8 billion video views.

Full text available to subscribers only

O3b's Latest Brazil Contract is another Building Block

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., October 20, 2011-- In September 2011, O3b Networks announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment with Ozônio Telecomunicações, a Brazilian multimedia communications and Internet service provider. The precise contract value was not disclosed, but it follows a series of O3b deals over the past two years.

Full text available to subscribers only

Hybrid Set-Top Boxes Empower Satellite Vendors to Compete in an On-Demand World

Scottsdale, Ariz., October 19, 2011--Hybrid set-top boxes are rapidly being deployed by pay-TV operators worldwide to help them deliver advanced services and manage bandwidth scarcity in broadcast networks, according to a recent report by ABI Research. In 2010, only 40% of set-top boxes worldwide featured hybrid capabilities, with many not yet enabled by software as operators were not ready to deploy IP video services. Hybrid box penetration will rise above 60% by 2016 as operators look at IP-based video on demand (VOD) and advertising solutions, as well as interactive content. Hybrid set-top boxes have the ability to decode video sent over the Internet or over two types of networks (such as satellite and terrestrial).

Full text available to subscribers only

42 Million Homes Now Watching Connected TV

Boston, MA - October 18, 2011 – The number of homes using the internet to watch television shows and movies on the TV screen has reached more than 42 million across the US and Europe, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Home Devices (CHD) service. The report, “Multiscreen Connected TV: Assessing Device Usage and Ownership,” bases its findings on a survey of 4800 respondents.

Full text available to subscribers only

40% of Tablet and Smartphone Owners Use Them While Watching TV

New York City, October 13, 2011- American consumers are increasingly connected and are increasingly multitasking when it comes to multimedia.  Roughly 40 percent of tablet and smartphone owners in the U.S. used their devices daily while watching TV, while only 14 percent of eReader owners said they watched TV while using their device every day, according to a recent survey by Nielsen.

Full text available to subscribers only

Brazil: Latin America's Leading Satellite Market

by B. H. Schneiderman

Sao Paolo, Brazil, October 7, 2011--With the sluggish mature markets of North America and Europe, the focus has been on emerging regions such as Latin America which has been experiencing a major boom in the last few years.  The demand for satellite services in Latin America is only expected to grow exponentially in the next few years with the Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the  Olympics in 2016 slated to be held in Brazil.

Public Contracts and Higher Resolution Imagery Spur Earth Observation Market

New NSR Report Forecasts EO Market to Grow to $10.5 Billion over Next Decade

Cambridge, Mass., October 6, 2011--NSR’s Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 3rd Edition, released today, indicates that last year the global Earth Observation (EO) market grew by 9% and is set to grow to $10.5 billion by 2020.  “Despite uncertainty created by the current budget crisis and financial debt of many countries, and the fact that a privately-funded EO operator recently went bankrupt, EO satellite operators have been growing their revenues lately,” said Claude Rousseau, Senior Analyst for NSR and report author.

Full text available to subscribers only

How Service Providers May Gain or Lose from the Interactive TV Revolution

New York, NY, October 3, 2011-Few can argue that the traditional business of linear television is morphing. Services are changing – from HDTV to 3DTV – while platforms are multiplying to encompass Internet delivery to the computer or tablet, streaming to the handheld device, download to PVRs, and over-the-top services that embed a Web browser and Internet-delivered content into the familiar TV set. This is the subject of a new report by the World Teleport Association, Future TV and the Teleport.

Number of Consumers Planning to Purchase a Smart TV Nearly Doubles in 2011

Dallas, TX, October 3, 2011--The number of U.S. consumers planning to purchase a smart TV has nearly doubled in less than a year, according to new consumer research from Parks Associates. The firm's Consumer Decision Process: Summer Update reports more than 10% of broadband households plan to purchase a smart TV in the second half of 2011, up from 6% in the first half. These households, representing 50% of the nearly one-fourth of U.S. broadband households planning to purchase a flat-panel TV, anticipate an average cost of $1,000 for the smart TV, defined as an HDTV with built-in Internet access capability.

Full text available to subscribers only