EXCLUSIVE: The Australia personal video market appears to have collapsed with companies like Topfield, Beyonwiz and Hybrid TV, the distributor of the TiVo PVR, forced to slash staff and restructure their operations.Jai Kemp the CEO of Digital Products Group, the distributor of the Beyonwiz PVR, said that he has had to downsize “significantly” and that he anticipates that several brands will simply quit the Australian market this year.
“The PVR market is dead; we have laid off staff and are now looking at new business opportunities”.
According to GFK data the stand alone PVR market has slumped by over 50 percent this year alone.
According to Kemp offerings like the recent Telstra T Box are making it hard to compete.
Earlier this year Hybrid TV sacked 40 staff after the Seven Network pulled the plug on the TiVo operation who had only managed to sell 88,000 units in 36 months.
In comparison Telstra now has an installed base of 175,000 T Boxes, with Optus tipped to enter the market this year with a new content service in partnership with Fetch TV.
Optus believe that they can deliver 500,000 set top boxes into Australian homes.
A Topfield employee said “It’s not looking good. Our sales have slumped and we have already terminated staff”.
The Taiwanese company who moved to market their own PVR after it was previously distributed by the Digital Products Group is currently looking at other products to sell in the Australian market.
Also set to hit the PVR market is the emergence of new Smart TVs with vendors such as LG and Samsung now partnering with Telstra to deliver BigPond Movies and other Telstra TV services.
Sony, with their Bravia TV brand is now delivering content via their Playstation Network to both Bravia TVs and Sony PlayStations.
Earlier this week Foxtel announced additional content services for Xbox Live users, including unmetered content for movies and TV programs.
