In-Stat's set-top box coverage has been reporting on European products, like the Metrological Mediaconnect TV, which does, in fact, come with a pair of built-in DVB-T, DVB-C, or DVB-S digital tuners, and supports personal video recording as well as a host of online video and audio CODECs.
Google TV may look like a competitor to the broadcast TV networks right now, but in the coming months In-Stat believes they will need to come to grips with Google TV and figure out how to make it play to their monetary advantage.
Blocking access to popular TV shows to some devices but permitting any Wi-Fi-connected laptop to have full access is certainly not going to sit well with consumers.
And as the set-top boxes get better and better, consumers are going to want more and more of their content delivered “on demand” to their TV sets via the Internet.
One must remember that it’s still the early days for Google TV, and their bold vision may take a while to fully develop.
Gerry Kaufhold is a principal analyst at In-Stat