The Picture is Clear: Millions More Homes Will Turn on HDTV in 2005
If you haven't gone shopping for a TV recently, you'll be amazed at the change. Tube TVs at national retailers like Tweeter are largely off the shelves now, replaced by LCD, plasma, DLP and, new for this year, SED, which some say offers next generation picture quality.
Why is HDTV now a "must have" versus a "nice to have"? Largely because there's actually stuff to watch on network and cable TV. The major cable providers, such as COX, Comcast, and Time Warner, offer many programs in HD, including the most popular, sports, including the 2005 Super Bowl.
Satellite is also offering more programming choices; VOOM, the first HDTV- only satellite service, launched in 2004. Today, you can already watch all these primetime programs in HD: American Dreams, Crossing Jordan, ER, Las Vegas, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The West Wing.
"Sporting events are a perennial trigger for TV sales," said Kate MacKinnon, a Tweeter spokesperson. "This year we'll see the same frenzy around the Super Bowl and March Madness, but we also expect interest from shoppers who have witnessed firsthand the theater-like experience of watching their favorite primetime shows in HD with a home theater system designed just for them."
Tweeter, a national specialty retail of entertaining consumer electronics solutions, recently announced its "We Can Untangle Your Mind" ad campaign to acknowledge the complexity of buying TVs and other consumer electronics today.
New research from Leichtman Research Group found the percentage of households with a high definition-capable TV nearly doubled in the past year, with 7% of households in the US having an HDTV at the end of the third quarter of 2004. This adoption continues to be driven by higher-income consumers, but the mean household income of HDTV owners went down from $95,000 to $80,000 per year.
"Consumer adoption of HDTV has been strong over the past year, and will continue to grow substantially over the next several years. We expect that by the end of this year about 10 million households will have an HDTV, and that number will grow to 45 million by the end of 2008," said Bruce Leichtman, principal analyst for Leichtman.
