Video cord cutting refers to the replacement of pay TV services. Video cord shaving refers to the elimination of premium channels, or the migration to cheaper pay TV service packages. Total US pay TV subscribers remained flat, growing by only some 148,000 during 2010, a 0.15% annual growth rate, indicating no current trend toward video cord cutting/shaving, according to In-Stat.

Updated research found the following:

• Cable operators lost 2.5 million subscribers, but satellite and telco operators made up the difference.
• Neither age, nor household income appear to impact pay TV video cord cutting.
• More households added premium channels during 2010 than dropped premium channels.
• Cable sports is valued significantly less than on-demand access to TV content or premium TV channels; more sports will not protect against cord cutting.

As a result of the global economy over the last few years payTV subscriber numbers had been negatively impacted. However, things seem to be improving as the total number of payTV subscribers by year-end 2010 were greater than year-end 2009 by a little over 6%, says In-Stat.

"Nearly every region showed gains or held their own in 2010. However, cable providers were impacted, to at least some degree, by a migration to satellite and/or IPTV in virtually every region," according to Stephanie Pickering, Industry Analyst. "Only Western Europe showed any gains in the total number of cable TV subscribers."

The report entitled IPTV Pricing Trends 2011 is a survey of the main price trends taking place across 56 IPTV providers. The aim of this report is to provide as comprehensive overview of the main trends adopted for pricing of IPTV services across the regions by those operators offering the service.

The product comprises of two deliverables:

A database holding the prices for basic plans and additional channels for 56 operators' IPTV offerings.

Since the dawn of the new millennium, the television industry has witnessed unprecedented changes. Across globe, governments have started to shift towards digital terrestrial from analog signals, mobile and high-definition TV became a reality for consumers, and television viewers preferred hundreds of channels instead of limited number of channels. With change in television era, viewers and their demands have also changed and service providers are increasingly facing tech-savvy, sophisticated audience who want high definition pictures, multiple channels, surround sound, and PVR functionality. Though video over Internet has been in progress since the past few years, advancements in efficient delivery of higher resolution and longer length videos are among the most notable developments in the field of Internet TV. Consisting of only a limited number of television stations available during the initial development phase, Internet Television industry has grown by leaps and bounds with the availability of countless number of stations. As a global trend, viewership for Live TV or on-demand television service is catching up among younger generation. Merging together hardware, software and multimedia content will form major differentiating strategies for the vendors. With more consumers discarding their traditional TV sets and endorsing the idea of viewing the video content online, Internet TV is expected to become the part of mass market.

Results from the newly completed IMS Research study IPTV: A Global Market Analysis – 2011 Edition, indicate that the worldwide Hospitality market for IPTV set-top boxes will reach a revenue milestone of three quarters of a billion US dollars in 2015, growing at a CAGR of 16%. The market is forecast to encounter double digit year-on-year revenue growth rates as hoteliers adopt IPTV technology as their entertainment platform. Currently, IP set-top box revenues for the Hospitality market hover near $400 million.

John Kendall, IMS Research Market Analyst and author of the study states, “Internet Protocol technology is a natural fit for the Hospitality market. Consumers prize the choices IP platforms can deliver, and the opportunities that the platform offers to the hotelier have great value.”

Residential gateways are critical to ensuring the successful delivery of multiple broadband services (digital video, IPTV, VoIP, etc.) to subscribers' homes -- key to helping operators increase revenue-per-subscriber. This month, market research firm Infonetics Research conducted a survey of incumbent and competitive telecom operators in North America, EMEA, and CALA who use residential gateways and CPE to offer broadband and multi-play services. The resulting 23-page report, Residential Gateway Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, captures service providers' strategies for deploying and pricing residential gateways, and their top picks for vendors, services, technologies, and features.

Market research firm Infonetics Research earlier this month released its fourth quarter 2010 (4Q10) Cable, Satellite, IPTV, and OTT Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers market share and forecast report, now led by analyst Teresa Mastrangelo.

ANALYST NOTE

"In the fourth quarter of 2010, we witnessed the dramatic growth of over-the-top services, as service providers and equipment vendors hit the 'sweet spot' for pricing. However, these services continue to complement pay TV rather than replace it. On a global basis, demand for set-top boxes continues to increase as more countries transition from analog to digital and more operators offer enhanced services such as high definition and DVR. We also are seeing increasing demand for hybrid set-top boxes, which leverage the existing broadcast infrastructure, but utilize the broadband connection to incorporate OTT content and increase interactivity and on-demand services," notes Teresa Mastrangelo, directing analyst for video (cable, satellite, IPTV video) at Infonetics Research.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Internet Protocol Television (iPTV) - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering.

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Internet Protocol Television (iPTV) in Millions of Subscribers and US$ Million. The market is also analyzed by the following Systems: Set-Top Boxes, Access Systems, Video Headend Equipment, Video-on-Demand, Middleware, Content Protection, and System Integration. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific (including Japan) and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2009 through 2015. Also, a five-year historic analysis is provided for these markets.

Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Global Internet Protocol Television Industry

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for IPTV in Millions of Subscribers and US$ Million. The market is also analyzed by the following Systems: Set-Top Boxes, Access Systems, Video Headend Equipment, Video-on-Demand, Middleware, Content Protection, and System Integration. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific (including Japan) and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2009 through 2015. Also, a five-year historic analysis is provided for these markets.

IPTV subscriptions will reach 131.6 million globally by year-end 2015, a CAGR of 23 percent, driven by the introduction of IPTV in emerging markets and the extension of coverage in developed markets to secondary and tertiary cities, according to a new report by Pyramid Research.

As a quarterly subscription or as a one-off resource, Research in Focus: IPTV offers analysis on global and regional subscription trends, as well as ARPS, pricing and revenue trends through 2015. This series of reports also provides five-year historical data and projections on IPTV for up to 60 markets around the world, with an excel document that contains the full data referenced in the report.

Download an excerpt of this new report "2010 Closes with 46.2m IPTV Subscriptions Worldwide." To purchase this report online, please click here.

Results from the newly completed IMS Research study IPTV: A Global Market Analysis – 2011 Edition, indicate that the worldwide IPTV subscriber base in 2015 will exceed 70 million. Currently, the market size stands near 36.5 million.

John Kendall, IMS Research Market Analyst and author of the study states, “Most of the current growth for the platform is centered in Western Europe and China. However, while China is expected to continue to experience double digit growth rates year over year, IPTV in several Western European countries is reaching the saturation point.”

The emerging markets of Latin America and Eastern Europe are also expected to be IPTV hotspots. “Eastern Europe is a mixed bag,” Kendall continues. “On the one hand, you have countries like Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia where IPTV growth has been rapid, due to significant capital expenditure and robust network infrastructure. Russia has also experienced substantial growth for the platform on a country-wide basis. However, in Romania or Poland, there is a much more nascent IPTV market, primarily due to poor network infrastructure and highly competitive pay-TV markets.” Kendall goes on to add that he does expect the market in Eastern Europe to follow the worldwide trend and double in size by 2015.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global IPTV Market Forecast to 2014" report to their offering.

The past decade of TV was about delivering the consumer a sit-back experience and a push feed for the operator/service provider. Since 2000, we saw major changes in the world of TV as the global economies were shifting from Analog to Digital Content. IPTV was becoming a big buzz in the field of entertainment and since then, IPTV market has continuously increased.

Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Asia Pacific IPTV Market

This study provides key insights on the IPTV market in Asia Pacific. The top 15 markets of the Asia Pacific for IPTV service are: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. IPTV has now become a mainstream Pay TV service in markets like France and Hong Kong, which have been early adopters of the technology. In Asia Pacific, telecom providers in the developed markets as well as the developing markets have launched IPTV service to reinvigorate their fixed / broadband lines.

The Asia-Pacific region will lead worldwide set-top box market growth for the next five years, according to new data from ABI Research. Asia-Pacific’s share of the market will approach 50% of all set-top boxes sold worldwide in 2013-2015 before declining slightly.

“This trend towards Asia-Pacific STB uptake is driven by the completion of digital transitions in North America and Western Europe, coupled with the digitization of cable systems in China occurring through 2015-2016,” says practice director Jason Blackwell, “Subscriber growth in India is strong too, although no clear timeline for digitization has been established, which hampers digital STB growth.”

Flouting the recession, the world iPTV market posted encouraging growth at a time when most other industry sectors were preoccupied with paranoid risk aversion and sensitivity over declining consumer spends. As the change in consumer TV viewing habits continue unabated, with the average time spent on watching TV shows over the Internet increasing by the year, iPTV market has successfully emerged into a recession buster. Value of iPTV subscriptions and volume of subscribers continued to grow during the period 2007 through 2010. Sturdy demand for iPTV services not surprisingly translated into sturdier gains in the iPTV systems market with sales of Set-Top Boxes, Access Systems, Video Headend Equipment, and Middleware, among others posting gains. Few of the factors widely opined to have shielded the iPTV market from the downturn is the level of broadband penetration and the scale of innovative yet affordable service bundling strategies, creative service offerings including on-demand services and channel diversity. Broadband penetration especially has helped the market sustain its growth despite the recession, which ironically pushed up broadband penetration rates, especially in the United States.