IER-FEB10-PG22-23-24-25.n:Layout 1 02/02/2010 10:33 Page 23
HDTV developments
Philips Aurea HD 9000 Series
within the free-to-air market, content has
only been available on Freesat and the
“There is no shortag
e of
choice has been more limited,” notes
HD products but the
Graham North, Humax’s commercial
director. “Having said that,” he adds,” the
biggest driver for HDTV
BBC and ITV HD content provided by
will be HD content”
Freesat is strong and has high value in the
eyes of consumers. I’m sure the HD
services will continue to develop, with more
content being launched in the future, number of Blu-ray titles and HD
building a strong HD base.” JVC’s Evans camcorders have also helped sales of
notes that: “Sky has increased the HD HDTV and HD Ready TVs. Sharp’s
content and now with almost two million Monetto adds that: “Blu-ray film titles
HD customers, HD broadcasts are have been more readily available and
increasing even further, including sports, promoted on the rental market, but one of
movies and other popular channels.” the biggest growth drivers is web-based
Panasonic’s Lucas thinks the increasing HD content, such as YouTube HD and
DivX HD. With TV sets and Blu-ray players
now able to access or display this
content, the need to have 1080 sets has
grown.”
The role of Freesat
Although pay-TV operators like Sky offer a
number of HD channels, many consumers
prefer to receive free HD services, and for
most, that means Freesat. Freesat sales
have reached 750,000 units and some
80% of these have been HD products. The
arrival of BBC iPlayer on Freesat HD boxes
is bound to attract even more people to this
platform. Freesat offers around 70 hours of
peak time programming per week, from
BBC and ITV HD channels, compared with
30 hours available at launch. So how
important has Freesat been in driving HDTV
sales?
Panasonic’s Lucas says: “This has been
a huge growth driver for our business.”
Humax’s North states that Freesat has
been an extremely important driver in the
HDTV market. “The take up has been very
arp Aquos LED LE600
February 2010 TheIndependentElectricalRetailer 23
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