|
By: Richard Del Cazzo
Web site: http://www.hdtv-hdtv.com
After years of hype and promises, high-definition television
(HDTV) services have finally captured the imagination of a
small, but growing, audience of TV viewers who now enjoy HDTV's
extraordinary clear and crisp picture quality. With its life-like
detail and impressive audio performance, high-definition television
(HDTV) service is also exciting TV broadcasters and multichannel
service providers, according to In-Stat/MDR (http://www.instat.com),
a high-tech market research firm. High-definition television
(HDTV) service, which is becoming widely available in a few
select countries, is being marketed as a premium service that
has the potential to boost incremental monthly revenues for
cable and satellite operators, while also providing terrestrial
TV broadcasters with a new weapon in their fight against pay-TV
services.
Currently, just over 4 million worldwide TV households receive
and watch high-definition television (HDTV) programming, although
most industry insiders expect that number to climb rapidly
over the next few years. Increasing consumer demand for HDTV
service is also driving sales of new consumer electronics
products, such as HDTV sets and HD-capable set top boxes.
However, there are still several market challenges that are
reigning in the growth of HDTV services. These include the
need for more HD programming, lowering the cost of HD equipment,
increasing the availability of HD service, and better educating
the public about the benefits of high-definition television
(HDTV).
Total worldwide terrestrial, satellite, and cable TV households
that are watching HD programming on an high-definition television
(HDTV) set are projected to rise to almost 6 million by the
end of 2004, and ultimately reach 45 million by the end of
2008.
high-definition television (HDTV) service remains extremely
limited in its reach, with only four countries offering the
service beyond an experimental basis. These countries are
Japan, the United States, Canada , and Australia. However,
a few other countries, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region,
are expected to roll out limited HDTV services in the next
year.
Japan is leading the high-definition television (HDTV) charge
with over 2 million households receiving and watching HDTV
programming. The US is second with just over 1.5 million households.
|
