Even though consumer retrenchment and overall market maturity in North America and Western Europe led to lower than expected growth in digital STB unit shipment volumes, the demand for digital STBs is boosting up silently in the other parts of the world – in emerging markets like Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Digital pay TV subscription growth in emerging markets accelerates overall STB shipments. Asia-Pacific is expected to enjoy strong pay TV subscription gains from 2010-2011, rising from 174.7 million to 230.8 million as digital cable and IPTV systems in China continue to prosper. DTH satellite systems in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also growing steadily, leading to increased TV subscription gains. Similar to Asia-Pacific, pay TV services in Latin America are also growing rapidly. DTC forecasts that there will be more than 6 million new pay TV subscribers in 2011. The considerable forecasted growth in Asia will help to lift up the entire market all the way through our forecast period, even though new subscriber acquisitions in North America and Europe are expected to show very little growth.