DTV Sales Grow During August

ARLINGTON, VA.— Manufacturer-to-dealer sales of digital television (DTV) monitors and integrated high-definition television sets (HDTV) totaled 137,854 units with more than $243 million in revenue during August, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

CEA said the dollar sales represent a 65 percent increase over the same period in 2000 and a 95 percent unit sales increase over the same period in 2000.

"When you look at the continually increasing sales figures for DTV products, it's clear that consumers are embracing the digital transition," said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro. "We are optimistic that the recent announcements regarding new HD programming will drive sales to even greater heights."

Shapiro referred to recent announcements that Panasonic and Zenith had agreed to underwrite another season of CBS prime time HDTV broadcastings, and the ABC Network's announcement that it has committed to airing all of its film-based prime time programming in the 720p HDTV format in the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, CEA reported unit sales of DVD players in August increased 21 percent to just under 674,000 units sold. The achievement was the 40th consecutive month that DVD players have posted gains over the year-ago period.

As a result of the continued rise in DTV and DVD sales, year-end sales figures also are poised for another highpoint. DVD player unit sales grew by just over 52 percent through the end of August to reach 5.7 million.

Consumer spending on DTV is projected to reach nearly $5 billion by the end of this year. CEA said it expects sales of DTV sets and monitors to climb to 1.1 million units this year, 2.1 million in 2002, 4 million in 2003, 5.4 million in 2004, 8 million in 2005 and 10.5 million in 2006.