Digital Video Recorder Trend Inevitable: 1-in-4 Households by 2008

Reprinted from a Carmel Group press release:

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, CA–July 15, 2002. The Carmel Group, a leading consulting and research firm, today unveiled its latest in a series of in-depth reports analyzing various competitive telecom/media industries, this one involving the digital video recorder (DVR) industry. The first day of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) show in Boston, MA, was the venue for release of the study, which can be downloaded free, by going to: www.carmelgroup.com

The report provides critical pieces of data and analysis for cable and satellite operators looking to implement DVR strategies and their choices in today’s marketplace. Research and analysis from the report includes:

DVRs will penetrate an estimated 1.5% of U.S. TV households by 2002, increasing to 25% in 2008.

Six DVR players will account for about 73% of the total market by 2008. Those companies include Digeo (Moxi), Metabyte Networks, Microsoft, OpenTV, SONICblue and TiVo.

Two pure-play DVR providers will emerge as leaders in the DVR race: TiVo for its branded DVR solution, and Metabyte Networks for its unbranded DVR solution.

Cable operators have and will be more inclined to work with unbranded DVR solutions, such as Metabyte Networks and OpenTV, because they provide greater flexibility and control.

By year-end 2005, U.S. cable operators will have an estimated 4.8 million DVR-based users, up from 300,000 users in 2002.

By year-end 2005, U.S. DBS operators will have an estimated 4.9 million DVR-based users, up from 1.0 million users in 2002.

A white paper focusing on the related aspects of personalization and profiling in the DVR environment was also completed earlier this year, and is immediately