The HDTV Tipping Point
Posted on August 28, 2007 by Mari Silbey
An article in The New York Times a few days ago suggested that growth in the HDTV market may be slowing. Should producers and network operators be worried given their hyper-focus on HD content and services?
Nah.
First, as the Times article points out, prices on high-definition TV sets will continue to drop, with great deals likely to come next January after the holiday shopping rush. Second, the date for the digital TV transition is a scant 18 months away. If anything acts as a tipping point for HD, that deadline will be it. Many people will decide it’s time to get a new TV set rather than deal with converter boxes. And if you’re in the market, it hardly makes sense to pick up anything that isn’t HD.
Filed under: HDTV
I just purchaced a 1080p set and now only the HiDef channels are watchable. Did you know that the SD cable channels are broadcast in 480i? Yikes.
It’s worth looking at how long it took for color tv’s to displace black and white. Complete saturation took nearly 25 years because many consumers purchased only a replacement basis (the original penetration of B+W tv’s was much more rapid with no replacement at work).