Hybrid set-tops expected to fuel flagging market

It's been said before and it will be said again: The set-top box is dead; long live the set-top box.

Infonetics Research is the latest to note that the set-top box landscape is again shape-shifting. What once was a channel changer that changed to a security device that changed to a digital tuner is now a hybrid unit capable of receiving both traditional cable TV and IP-related content as the pay TV industry refocuses its attention on getting subscribers via nontraditional means.

"The pay TV market is rebounding after two years of significant declines (and) evidence continued to mount that operators are in the early stages of implementing hybrid IP networks that offer the best of both OTT and on-demand services combined with linear broadcast," Teresa Mastrangelo, directing analyst for video at Infonetics Research, said in a comment on the report, "Cable, Satellite, IPTV and OTT Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers."

Mastrangelo said the report's findings indicate that "the hybrid segment of the market will experience the strongest growth over the next few years."

For more:
- see this news release

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