Plasma, LCD Fuels DTV Sales

Strong sales in plasma and LCD monitors helped DTV sales pass the two million unit mark this year, representing over $3 billion in DTV in 2003, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

August factory-to-dealer sales of DTV products increased 26 percent over the same period last year, bringing in revenues of more than $447 million. CEA also revised year-to-date DTV sales totals based on the strong growth in flat panels.

CEA also noted that January through August 2003 set-top box sales totaled 148,799 units. Set-top box sales totaled 25,956 units in August 2003, an increase of 376 percent compared to August 2002. From introduction to date, DTV sales total 6,793,469 units with a consumer dollar investment of $11.9 billion. CEA Market Research projects that 8.3 million units will be sold by 2005, and 16.2 million will be sold by 2007.

CEA defines DTV units as integrated sets and monitors displaying active vertical scanning lines of at least 480p and, in the case of integrated sets, receiving and decoding ATSC DTV transmissions.