Set-top box revenue grows to record $20 billion

Revenue for television set-top boxes hit an all-time high in 2013 as more consumers adopted Internet-centric boxes.

Sales of the devices, which connect television sets with broadcast channels, rose to $20.3 billion in 2013, a 3% increase over the previous year. That growth is expected to continue until at least 2015, according a report from IHS Technology.

“Far from being pushed out of the living room by Internet-enabled consumer electronics, [set-top boxes] are being repositioned as the hub of the connected home,” said Daniel Simmons, director for Connected Home research at IHS.

The growth is mainly traced to widespread adoption of so-called “multimedia home gateways,” which combine traditional television options with Internet access, Wi-Fi connection and other modern technology. These numbers don’t include streaming devices like Apple TV, Roku or Google Chromecast, IHS said.

IHS also found that British company Pace shipped the most set-top box units in 2013, while U.S. networking equipment company Cisco lead the market in set-top box revenue.

For more tech news, follow me @RileySnyder