Despite an economic downturn Azerbaijan is still growing its telecom sector.  Coming into 2012 Azerbaijan's mobile subscriber base had passed the 10 million milestone (109% penetration). Mobile subscriber growth had moderated to 10% per annum in 2011 and similar growth was continuing into 2012, according to a Research and Markets report entitled “Azerbaijan - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts.”

The global pay-TV market continues to grow despite a decline in the North America pay-TV market in 2012. ABI Research forecast that global pay TV subscribers will reach 858.1 million at the end of 2012, a 5% year-on-year increment from 2011. The key growth will be driven by the Asian-Pacific market which is expected to add more than 27 million subscribers in 2012.

Even while experiencing some significant challenges, the global set-top box market continues to expand. Demand for digital set-top box products is rising, particularly in Asia, Latin America, and a number of countries in Europe. The expansion of pay-TV services in developing markets, along with the ongoing shift from standard-definition products to high-definition products in developed markets, is fueling market demand, according to Multimedia Research Group Inc.  (MRG).

Global TV shipments declined for the second straight quarter, falling 8% Y/Y in Q2’12, according to the NPD DisplaySearch Advanced Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. The decline in TV shipments started in Q4’11 and has continued in 2012, reflecting worsening economic conditions worldwide and slower price erosion, which both affect consumer demand.

SES announced today that satellite TV continued to increase its reach in Germany after the analog switch-off in April. In the first half of 2012, satellite TV gained 100,000 households to reach 17.6 million.

TV Everywhere and Over-the-Top (OTT) video, including Comcast Xfinity, HBO Go, Netflix, iPlayer, and Sky Go are growing rapidly, according to new research by ABI Research. Making this possible are several groups of companies responsible for video delivery and management. The companies, including online video platforms (OVPs), managed video platforms (MVPs), content management systems (CMSs), and content delivery networks (CDNs) are all growing at impressive rates.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Malaysia - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts" report to their offering.Malaysia has been working towards a clear national objective to see it ranked as a fully developed nation by the year 2020. This Vision 2020 was a concept introduced by the former Prime Minister Mr Mahathir in 1991 when he launched the Sixth Malaysia Plan. And the task of building an advanced telecom sector has strong relevance to achieving this national objective. It has also been a matter of national pride.

On-demand TV revenues from movies and TV programs (and excluding revenues from other sources such as sports and adult and also excluding SVOD packages) will reach US$6.0 billion in 2017, up from US$3.9 billion in 2011 and US$2.3 billion in 2007, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Research and Markets  has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Global IP Video Network Management Market" to their offering. IP video network management is the process of ensuring the overall efficiency of video transmission over IP at the head-end, through the transport stream, and at edge of the network using monitoring products such as probes, analyzers, and data-mining solutions. This study focuses on the broadcast, cable, IPTV, and enterprise segments.

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that the number of residential TVs, connected to the Internet via different platforms such asBlu-ray players, set-top boxes and consoles, and also via built in wireless or Ethernet connectivity, will reach almost 650 million by 2017.

The report finds that Smart TVs are becoming mainstream amongst consumers, similar to smartphone and tablet adoption. Even though the replacement cycle of TVs are longer than for, say smartphones, the report forecasts strong growth over the forecast period.