ICTs declared “engines of economic prosperity and sustainable development”

The ITU Connect Americas Summit wrapped up last week  with a declaration from Heads of State and Government from Latin America and the Caribbean aimed at mobilizing “the human, financial and technical resources needed to connect the unconnected and to strengthen the role of ICT as the engine of economic prosperity and sustainable development, as well as poverty reduction in the Americas region.”

Smart set-top boxes often garner less attention than other connected CE devices like TVs and game consoles – Apple has referred to its Apple TV as a “hobby” although it leads the market with around 4 million units shipped through 2011. Roku has had recent success (e.g. passing 2.5M units in 2011), but the future looks at the very least challenging for these dedicated streaming devices to break out of a niche status. TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players, and even mobile devices are quickly conspiring to engender a very competitive market for the digital living room.

Globecomm Systems will be holding its annual Techforum event at the  company’s sprawling facility in Long Island, New York from August 6-7, 2012. This year’s event will include keynotes from David Kline, CTO, Viacom Media Networks and Bradley Blanken, Vice President, Rural Cellular Association as well as unique networking opportunities.

Key announcements slated for rollout of ICT and broadband

The Connect Americas Summit is set to open its doors on July 18  to push broadband connectivity in the region, enlisting the support of Heads of State and Government and Ministers along with Chief Executives and top-level management from the ICT industry, heads of United Nations and international development bodies, financial institutions as well as academics, media and industry analysts.

NAB Show, in partnership with BPL Broadcast Ltd, will debut Connected Media World, an exhibit area set to launch at the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-11, 2013.The new exhibit area will showcase technologies and services that are advancing how consumers connect with media and entertainment.

Euroconsult announced the findings of its most recent study of fixed satellite services. The report entitled "Company Profiles, Analysis of FSS Operators," now in its 5th edition, indicates that regional operators in particular continued to see strong business growth from various applications including DTH TV broadcasting, cellular backhaul and enterprise networks. Many of these regional operators are continuing their ambitious expansion plans with growing satellite fleets and a number of satellite launches still ahead in the coming years.

The TV middleware market, long led by Nagra (25% worldwide 2011 market share) and NDS (24%) worldwide and Motorola (19%) and Cisco (11%) in North America, is in a massive state of upheaval as Cisco’s bid for NDS waits to close, (it is expected in early August 2012) while Google has yet to give a clear direction for its recently acquired Motorola Home business unit.

Satellite capacity is a uniquely valuable asset.  It can do some things, like broadcasting one signal to millions of destinations, better and cheaper than any other technology.  But it is also a scarce asset, thanks to the laws of physics and the skilled yield management of the operators that fly spacecraft in Earth orbit. 

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 87% of households nationwide subscribe to some form of multi-channel video service. The percentage of households that subscribe to a multi-channel video service is similar to the past two years, and up from 80% in 2004.

Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Pay-TV Services and Subscribers report, which forecasts and analyzes the telco Internet protocol television (IPTV), cable video, and satellite video services markets.