This effort, along with the addition of new subscribers, will boost DBS set top box sales from 15.7 million units in 1999 to 48 million in 2004, according to Cahners In-Stat Group. Providers are banking on new services to stimulate an increase in new subscriber sign-ups which have slowed in recent months. Providers are likely to begin 8PSK transmissions in 2002, says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat senior analyst. In the United States, providers will use the extra capacity to deliver high definition TV and more local channels. In Europe, DBS companies are more interested in reducing the size of satellite dishes to cut system costs.
Some providers currently offer e-mail and Web access.
It's important for satellite companies to diversify their offerings as a competitive strategy, Abraham says, because the basic video packages offered by all providers are essentially commoditized. In addition, new services are critical to keep pace with cable TV rivals. Some of the new DBS boxes will be equipped with a hard drive to enable video recording. For example, DirectTV announced a new receiver in January that would incorporate the TiVo Personal TV PVR service. In order to boost data speeds, manufacturers are considering adding the means to connect DBS boxes to DSL modems for a faster upstream path.