How to survive the Set Top Box endgame; Android TV to dominate set tops, trade war shuts door on China

After a decade of predictions that the set top was on its last legs, the endgame is in sight – but far from dying overnight, over the next five years what operators seem to be planning is a dramatic reduction in the list of video operating systems. This is all spelled out in a new report from Rethink Technology Research entitled “How to survive the Set Top Box endgame.”

Android TV, RDK and a handful of other specialist smart TV OSs will come to the fore, mostly at the expense of generic Linux variants, plus a new entry out of China as the US China trade war eliminates what would have been dominance there on Android in favor of Huawei’s Harmony, which will eventually make the transition from Smart TV OS, to full bloodied set tops.

On pure set tops globally Android will reign supreme and make huge gains in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Although Android will score in North America, it will be held at bay by the resolute rock of RDK, increasingly dominant in the cable sector.

We believe that Android TV will surge to the top of the leaderboard with 24% of global pay TV subscriptions. In North America Android will meet stiff resistance from RDK and meanwhile Huawei’s HarmonyOS will become a major force in China, initially on smart TVs, and then later on set tops.

Companies mentioned in this report

Altice, Amazon, America Movil, Android, Apple, Arris, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Bourges Telecom, BT, Canal+, Calbevision, Charter, CBS, CenturyLink, Comcast, CommScope, Cox, Cyfrowy Polsat, DAZN, Deutsche Telekom, Dish D2H, Disney+, ER Telecom, ESPN, Fox, Google, Grupo Televisa, HBO, Huawei, Humax, Iliad, KDDI, Korea Telecom, LG, LG Uplus, Liberty Global, Linux Foundation, MEASAT, Multichoice, Netflix, NTT Docomo, Orange, Peacock, Pluto TV, Reliance Jio, Rogers, Roku, Rostelecom, Samsung, Shaw, SoftAtHome, Sun Direct, Tata Sky, Telecom Argentina, Telefonica, Time Warner, TiVo, Tricolor, Tubi TV, UPC, Verizon, Viacom, Vodafone, VTR