The transition to digital television and increasing competition between operators will help push worldwide set-top box shipments to 200 million by 2013, according to a new report from Parks Associates.

As operators rapidly more boxes for high-definition TV, DVR and interactive services, set-top box shipments will see a 36% cumulative average annual growth rate, according to Parks.

The Set-Top Boxes: Outlook report does not provides a breakdown between standard-definition and HD set-tops, but Parks Associates research analyst Jayant Dasari notes that most of the newer boxes being shipped in North America are MPEG-4 or HVC.264 boxes that allow operators to more efficiently handle the higher-bandwidth requirements of HD content.

A separate Parks survey found that about one-third of U.S. broadband households are currently "very interested" in a set-top box that is connected to the internet, though less than 10% were willing to pay a monthly fee for the service. Dasari expects that in North America "virtually 100% of set-top boxes" shipping in 2013 will be connected boxes.

Parks' estimate of annual set-top box shipments includes only boxes that are sent from operators to their customers. These estimates exclude digital-to-analog converters, as well as standalone digital video recorders, such as TiVo boxes sold at retail. As a result, its estimate is lower than some other set-top box shipment forecasts.

From the article, "Set-Top Shipments to Hit 200 Million by 2013" by George Winslow

Next: Parks Associates to Present Connected TV and Cloud Media Research at Digital Hollywood Special Research Presentation sponsored by Rovi

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