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telcodad
MVM
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telcodad

MVM

Re: [STB] Cisco thinking of getting out of the set-top box busin

An item on the FierceCable site this morning about a Financial Times analysis of the evolving set-top box market:

Set-top box future remains present concern
FierceCable - March 26, 2012
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 12-03-26

"Following last week's IPTV World Forum in London, the Financial Times offered an analysis of the evolving (or is it still dying?) set-top box market, and discussed the growing threat presented by Internet-connected TVs.

The concern about the future of set-top boxes will sound like nothing new to the cable TV industry, where set-tops have been seen for years as having a limited future potential amid the rise of Internet TVs, residential gateways and other offerings. Yet, the set-top box, while far different from the set-top box that sat atop your 19-inch living room TV 20 years ago, often can still be found in its accustomed spot.

In part, the new talk about the death of the set-top box is being inspired by rumors that companies like Cisco Systems and Google (which acquired Motorola's set-top box business) want out of the market. The Financial Times also points out that some set-top box vendors may not be so lucky as the market gets squeezed, though it is clear that companies like Amino are embracing the hybrid TV trend, while traditional set-top box giants like Pace fortify themselves with acquisition of technologies that will be increasingly important to keeping set-tops viable. The last line of the Financial Times story, in any case, should read like an affirmation for anyone in this sector.

For more:
- here's the Financial Times report (reg. req.)" »www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ ··· qBFWIM3S

EDIT: Some excerpts from the Financial Times report:

"The potential concern for the TV set-top box makers at the [IPTV] convention was all around them, albeit in a wireless form: the internet.

As the variety of TV content available over the internet expands, the future market for makers of TV set-top boxes - such as Virgin Media's TiVo and Sky's Plus - has been called into question.

Why would a consumer pay for a subscription to use a set-top box when “smart TVs” allow direct access to internet content, known as over the top (OTT), for free?

The market is being squeezed as consumers shift to downloading TV programmes and videos over the internet from companies such as LoveFilm, Google and Netflix, whilst free content is available from services including the BBC’s iPlayer, Channel Four’s OnDemand and the ITV Player.

Furthermore, BBC’s iPlayer on-demand TV service recently became available on all the UK’s major gaming platforms, including Microsoft’s Xbox360.

The internet TV trend has been touted as a potential killer of set-top box makers, which include Yorkshire[England]-based Pace, the world’s biggest maker of TV set-top boxes by shipments, and Aim-traded Amino Technologies."

“Set-top boxes are still the best way to improve functionality and ensure security,” says Donald McGarva, the new chief executive of Amino.

“It’s still quite a youthful environment for these boxes and OTT – it’s not going to be a binary outcome where one wins and the other loses.”

Such confidence is echoed by Mike Pulli, chief executive of Pace: “OTT is just another mechanism to deliver content. We see [internet TV] as a complementary service rather than a replacement service.”

The other challenge facing set-top box manufacturers is the use of “the cloud” – where content is accessed over the internet.

“The OTT services might lack content but they have shown up pay-TV in terms of the user interface and experience,” says Giles Cottle, principal analyst at Informa.

“Moving to the cloud can enable operators to compete more effectively in these areas.”

Consumers are demanding higher-quality content in various formats (TV, mobile, PC and tablet), and the latest set-top boxes such as those from Amino combine broadcast, on-demand and open internet services.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, I don’t know what will happen in 20 years’ time,” says Amino’s Mr McGarva. “But set-top boxes have been predicted to die many times now. So far, they’re still going strong.”
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

In a recent interview with the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cisco CEO John Chambers said that they still have “a huge commitment to video”:

Cisco won’t drop video, says CEO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - March 24, 2012
»www.ajc.com/business/cis ··· 369.html

"Six years after Cisco Systems bought Scientific Atlanta, high-tech giant Cisco says its metro Atlanta acquisition is critical to its efforts to profit off the rising tide of video streaming around the globe.

Cisco has “a huge commitment to video,” John Chambers, Cisco’s longtime CEO and chairman, said in a telephone interview recently after talking to about 1,000 Cisco employees near its Lawrenceville operation, which designs set-top boxes and related devices for cable TV service. The devices are manufactured outside the U.S.

Chambers said video-related traffic is growing exponentially and is expected to account for 91 percent of Internet data flow within three years. Cisco’s Lawrenceville unit will design much of the hardware and software that handles that traffic.

To play a central role in that growing business, Cisco has been reaching beyond the set-top box business into other software and hardware pieces of an ever-expanding range of cable, telephone and wireless networks. The goal: to supply many pieces of intelligent networks that allow people and businesses to view television and other types of video where ever they happen to be, whether in their homes, commuting or on vacation or business trips.

“This isn’t [about] set-top boxes. It’s how you bring video into the home, into wherever,” said Chambers. “This is right now our sweet spot for where we want to go.”

That is a very different message from what folks at the former Scientific Atlanta operation have been hearing in recent months.

Rumors have swirled that San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco may want to sell all or part of the operation, now called Cisco’s Service Provider Video Technology Group. Several news stories recently speculated that Cisco wants to shed relatively slow-growing, less profitable businesses such as set-top boxes.

Cisco is currently the second-largest producer of the devices, which tune, decode and in some cases store cable TV shows for later viewing."