The worldwide market for digital set-top boxes - including hard-to-track free-to-air satellite boxes - will grow from 205 million in 2010 to 226 million in 2015. Shipments in North America and Western Europe are falling following largely successful digital transitions, while Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe all see significant growth. Set-top boxes in China will grow at nearly 10% per year.

“Cable boxes decline in the short term due to cable’s failure to compete in the North American markets; however they grow in the long term due to significant numbers of new subscribers in China and, to a lesser extent, India,” says ABI Research senior analyst Sam Rosen. “Digital terrestrial boxes see the largest platform growth worldwide as countries in Asia-Pacific and Latin America move through their digital transitions and toward analog shutoff of broadcasts.”

DTT box shipments will grow at 8.4% CAGR from 2010 to 2015. “Standard Definition DVRs will become a thing of the past in North America and Western Europe, although they will continue to play a minor role in Asia and Eastern Europe.”

ABI Research’s “Set Top Box Market Data” study covers STB shipments for digital cable, digital satellite (pay services and free-to-air), IPTV and digital terrestrial TV (pay services and free-to-air). It segments TV household data by platform, unit shipment forecasts, and the market value of set-top boxes worldwide. It describes technology transitions, including high definition, broadcast standard (ATSC, DTMB, DVT-T, ISDB-T) and personal video recorders (PVR / DVR).

This report is included in ABI Research’s TV and Video Research Service.