Rich Fiscus
26 Sep 2007 6:27
New figures released by Leichtman Research Group (LRG), 20% of US homes have DVRs, with an increase to 50% expected by 2011.
"Cable and satellite TV companies are driving the penetration of DVRs into the home," LRG President Bruce Leichtman told the E-Commerce Times. "The evolution of this product, like many others, is not solely about consumer demand," he said. "It's often about supply. This is a great example about the supply side pushing a product."
Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, credits cable providers with quick adoption of the technology, saying "For the most part, the big motivator for consumers to get these things is that the cable companies have subsidized these into the market pretty aggressively."
Analysts also say the emergence of HDTV signals has also been a factor in the DVR's popularity. Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group said "People with HD TVs prefer to watch HD programming. So if it's a choice between watching something in high definition that they've recorded and something live that may not be available in high-definition, they may find more value from the HD DVR."
Despite their popularity, cable companies are looking for ways to replace DVRs with better alternatives, Time Warner's new "Start Over" and "Look Back" services that allow viewers to either rewind live TV to see something that aired before they turned to the Channel or watch an entire show time shifted.
"My expectation is that in 10 years network services is what we'll be looking at," Enderle predicted. "It's a lot cheaper to deal with, and if the programming never leaves the central office, it's a lot tougher to pirate."
Source: TechNewsWorld