The supply of hard disk drives is causing problems for both manufacturers and operators, writes Julian Clover
The worst flooding in Thailand for 50 years has brought tragedy to the people of the southeast Asian country and an increasing headache for pay-TV operators and manufacturers alike.
This week Kabel Deutschland (KDG) expressed concern over the availability of personal video recorders over the next few months. Already Pace has issued a profit warning resulting from the matter – the intense focus of the company on pay-TV operators – and on Thursday indicated the problems would continue into 2012.
KDG, which currently receives its DVR product from Sagemcom, is working with two other manufacturers, though whether these are either approved for use on the network in time, or have any better chance of getting hard disk supplies is another matter.
The hard disk drive is now an essential component in the set-top box. Many operators provide the same as standard to new subscribers, often with an HD tuner. Boxes such as those including the TiVo technology, or the UPC Horizon box, still rely on the hard drive even if part of the concept is pulling in internet based content.
Already there are changes taking place among hard drive manufacturers. Western Digital, a key supplier to pay-TV, will next week receive the conditional clearance of its acquisition of Hitachi’s hard drive business. The move will make it the number one supplier of hard disks that are also increasingly used in tablet devices as well as their traditional home in PCs.
The EC is also in the process of investigating a separate plan by Seagate Technology to buy Samsung Electronics’ hard drive division.
Last month a deal between Seagate and Samsung went through without issue.
Manufacturers are doing their best to mitigate the problems, though those with second suppliers outside of Thailand have found that they have sourced components from within the country, in many ways transferring the problems. Others have chosen to dispatch the units they have available to operators on a gradual basis.
One way or another prices are going to rise and those costs will find themselves being passed on to manufacturers, towards operators and consumers.
