Report forecasts 50 million HDTV units by 2008

According to a new report from Global Industry Analysts, Inc, the HDTV market is expected to exceed 50-million units by 2008.

The report, entitled “HDTV: A Global Strategic Business Report”, states that traditional markets for entertainment and computer displays are now being replaced with High-Definition Television.

HDTV has been available since the 1980s. It opens up a completely new range of multimedia and interactive services and applications to the consumer, but its uptake has been slow because of its high cost.

Europe currently accounts for 45% of the global HDTV market and North America is expected to be the fastest growing HDTV market.

The market for HDTV in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and rest of world, accounts for only 5-6% of the global market.

Together, Europe and North America account for over 75% of global sales of HDTV capable sets (sets which require an external receiver/decoder in order to receive digital broadcasts).

Europe holds nearly 50% of the global market for integrated HDTV sets (which have an inbuilt HDTV receiver/decoder), but is expected to lose market share over the period to 2008.