Shipments of internet-enabled settops set to rocket

Global shipments of multimedia home gateways are expected to rise more than 100 times between 2011 and 2015, driven by demand for integrated multiscreen offerings from pay TV providers, according to IHS Screen Digest.

According to IHS Screen Digest’s report, Multimedia Home Gateways: The Future of the Digital Home, global multimedia home gateway shipments are set to climb to 9.6 million units in 2015 and 2016, up from just 90,000 in 2011.

Demand for gateway devices is being driven by pay TV operators’ desire to offer the same level of service to IP-connected devices as they currently provide to TVs via set-top boxes, according to the report’s authors. Content will increasingly be delivered around the home from a gateway device via WiFi, and IHS Screen Digest expects WiFi penetration in multimedia home gateways to grow to 73% of units shipped by 2016, up from 18% in 2012.

“A decade ago, set-top boxes served as the bridge from analog to digital broadcasting,” said Daniel Simmons, senior principal analyst at IHS and lead author of the report. “Today, multimedia home gateways are playing a similar role, acting as the bridge between broadcast and Internet Protocol [IP] video distribution.

“With MHGs, cable and satellite operators can utilise the efficiency of broadcast television to provide advanced services and content to all kinds of IP-connectable devices, including today’s increasingly popular mobile devices.”