The broadcast MPEG encoder market grew in 2008, but growth will turn negative as the 2 GHz relocation project in the United States comes to an end and the economy slumps, according to In-Stat report "Worldwide Real-Time Broadcast MPEG Encoders Market." Overall, worldwide encoder revenue is expected to see a slight decline in 2009 mainly due to declining ASPs as units grow slightly. However, contraction will accelerate in 2010, as revenue declines more than 15 percent.

"The launch of new pay-TV services will slow in the current climate," said Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst, in a statement. "Encoder upgrades to save on operational expenses are more viable, with a number of new product introductions in 2009 that will reduce the bandwidth necessary for video transmission."

The report further indicates the following:

. Positive 2008 growth was driven by the launch of new terrestrial, satellite and IPTV platforms and the 2 GHz relocation project in the United States.

. Worldwide HD H.264 professional encoder revenue for terrestrial broadcast stations is expected to more than double between 2008 and 2013.

. Europe will be the largest geographic segment for HD H.264 professional encoder revenue for mobile contribution, representing nearly 33 percent of the worldwide $111 million market in 2013.

. H.264 will make greater inroads into the HD contribution segment, as content producers want to use the same bandwidth for HD contribution as they were previously using for SD contribution.

. Harmonic captured the top market share among encoder vendors by number of streams for 2008, followed by Tandberg, Scopus and Motorola.

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