Factory sales of digital televisions (DTVs) rose 45 percent to 3.8 million units between January and June, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) numbers.
Total DTV wholesale dollar sales for the period rose 23 percent, exceeding $4.6 billion, CEA said.
The association said both sales and revenue were impacted by steadily declining prices on DTV equipment. The average price since January has dropped more than $200, bringing the average factory-to-dealer sales price to $1,159 per DTV set. The CEA said that as sales prices continue to drop, every month in 2005 has seen an increase in sales over the previous month.
CEA’s president/CEO Gary Shapiro said, “To date, more than 7 million devices are capable of receiving HD content.”
Shapiro added that CEA forecasts more DTV sets will be sold than analog models in 2005.