# Digital TV Transition Still "Stalled"



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

According to Yankee Group research, titled "Up in the Air: The Future of Broadcast Television," the transition to digital TV remains stalled.

Broadcasters, network operators, programmers and consumer electronics manufacturers are all blaming each other for the slow market evolution, the Boston-based firm said. Yet sales of digital TV monitors are beginning to gain traction for use in home theaters. The Yankee Group forecasted that digital television monitors will be in 24 million U.S. homes by the end of 2006.

"Broadcasters alone cannot drive the transition," said Adi Kishore, co-author of the report. "Carriage by multichannel providers will be the key, along with an expanded slate of high-definition programming from the networks," Kishore said.

Report co-author Ryan Jones added, "Without increased support from providers and content owners, the challenge of educating consumers about the value of HDTV falls disproportionately on consumer electronics retailers."

Other conclusions from the report suggested that broadcasters should evaluate their proposed digital services and set deployment within the context of the services and timelines being considered by other broadcast stations in the market. Multicasting and datacasting also can add value to a station's brand even if the applications do not generate significant revenue, Yankee Group said.

From http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)


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