CEA Announces Strong January DTV Product Sales

28-Mar-03

Manufacturer-to-dealer sales of digital television (DTV) products continued to beat past year performance for the month of January, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) during comments at the HDTV Update held in Miami, Florida. During the first month of 2003, unit sales-to-dealers of DTV products totaled 196,113 with dollar sales totaling some $304.1 million. These figures represent an increase of 36 percent for unit sales and a 16 percent increase for dollar sales, compared to the same period in 2002. CEA defines DTV products as integrated sets and monitors displaying active vertical scanning lines of at least 480p and, in the case of integrated sets, receiving and decoding ATSC terrestrial digital transmissions. ""These sales figures tell a compelling story about the rapid growth of this technology and the increasing numbers of consumers who are watching and enjoying digital television every day,"" said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. ""Consumers' awareness of increased DTV programming this spring -- including the NCAA Basketball Championships, the launch of ESPN HD, and the first HDTV broadcast of the Oscars -- contributed to the strong January sales. Based on how the year has started, 2003 should be another banner year for DTV.""These figures were released by CEA during its most recent HDTV Update meeting that brought together retailers, broadcasters and cable representatives in Tampa to get up-to-date information from CEA on the state of the analog to digital television transition. Additionally, the meetings provided a national perspective of where the transition is heading and gave local parties an opportunity to discuss ways of working together to achieve greater consumer awareness of the best of DTV -- high-definition television (HDTV).By the close of 2002, nearly 5 million DTV products had been sold, representing an $8.6 billion market investment in the switch to digital. CEA projections forecast consumers will continue to embrace this transition during 2003 with a total investment by year's end of more than $15 billion in DTV products since introduction to the market in 1998.Data cited in this release is available for purchase through CEA's Market Activity Reports and Analysis (MARA) program. With more than 500 reports published annually, the MARA program is recognized as the ""authoritative source"" for data on the consumer electronics industry. For more information, visit www.eBrain.org/mara.For more information about the CEA, visit www.ce.org.

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