Do FTA equipment manufacturers usually exhibit at CES, or any other show for that matter?

[anik]

I'm full of questions today, but right now I'm wondering if the FTA equipment manufacturers (particularly receiver manufacturers) exhibit at CES, or any other trade show for that matter.

Implied in my question is whether we are likely to see any new models of FTA satellite receivers make an appearance in the next couple of weeks or so.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They use to, but nothing really in the past 2 or 3 years.

If anyone is there it is companies looking to sell their product to other companies not consumers.

 

[primestar31]

There's little market for true FTA satellite in the U.S. Nobody knows what it is except for us, and if they do, they think it means hacking.

Just pay attention to the newbies that discover it, and post threads in here. Nearly every single one asks if they can get the same channels they already get with Dish Network, DirecTv, or cable. Once they find out they can't, that kills the desire for 99% of them.

 

[Martyn]

Last year there was a Chinese company nearby the room we had in the Central Hall. It had various bits and pieces including a few C-band LNBs on show. That's the most interesting FTA thing I've seen in years at CES, and it wasn't much.

You get Technisat and others at IFA in Berlin in September. This year Astra and the German Cable TV operators association were also demonstrating 4K over satellite. It'll be interesting to see if there are any demos at CES. Of course, in the U.S. DTH is just Dish and DirecTV so there is less interest in the satellite operators showing such technology.

There will be a lot of 4K products on show.

 

[T134]

The owner of Amiko in Europe and I seriously looked into exhibiting at CES last year. After contacting CES and getting just the basic costs for something small I told him straight out that it is not worth doing. North America is way too small for True FTA and CES isn't going to change that. Sad but true.

 

[Martyn]

Many, many companies are now located off the show floor. I can't count the number of invitations I've had to hotel rooms where companies are demonstrating their products. Way cheaper than the show floor, it doubles as a place for the sales guy to sleep and it can be effective if you rely on targeted meetings rather than show floor traffic. The down side is that it's a pain in the ass to haul all over Vegas from hotel to hotel.

 

[Titanium]

Many vendors are there, but typically do not showcase the DVBS S2 products up front. They usually have an engineer representing the DVBS products.

Last year there were about 20 booths with DVBS / S2 gear. You need to know who some of the companies are and then look hard for the gear as it might be partially hidden behind the big sellers. North and Central halls usually have manufacturer reps from Asia, but they are looking for OEM partners and not resellers or end users. Stop by and see Alex from Tele-Audiovision at his booth. He usually knows who is at the show representing satellite gear.

I have scheduled several private meetings and have a few samples on hand for reviewers, or potential international partners, etc who want to have carry-on or buy extra luggage.

CabSat and Anga have good representation of DVBS S2 gear.

 

[RT-Cat]

Many, many companies are now located off the show floor. I can't count the number of invitations I've had to hotel rooms where companies are demonstrating their products. Way cheaper than the show floor, it doubles as a place for the sales guy to sleep and it can be effective if you rely on targeted meetings rather than show floor traffic. The down side is that it's a pain in the ass to haul all over Vegas from hotel to hotel.

In Vegas, that's called FUN!

 

[Tron]

SatCon in NYC has lots of satellite gear, however most of it is geared to broadcast professional markets, and is too expensive for hobbyists. That is a VERY fun show to window shop in ...

 

[pwrsurge]

The main CES venue is much too mainstream for the FTA hobbyist market as the cost for a medium sized booth ranges from $100,000 to $150,000 USD which is unaffordable unless your company is making several million dollars in annual revenue. As per http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/what-it-costs-to-exhibit-at-ces.html a breakdown of the cost to setup a typical booth is as follows:

$20,000: Space on the convention center floor
$50,000: Booth rental
$20,000 - $30,000: Booth design
$5,000: Booth set-up
$5,000 - $10,000: Product giveaways for show attendees
$5,000 - $10,000: Staff expenses
$2,000 - $4,000: Travel expenses
$1,000: Wi-Fi access (that's per day and it ain't that great)

The only affordable CES booths for companies catering to the FTA hobbyist market would be Eureka Park, located in the Venetian which is just beside the main CES venue. With booth rental prices as low as $1,000 for a small 10x10 booth, the total cost to exhibit at the event would range from $5,000 to $10,000+ which is much more affordable. We have considered having a booth there but the main issue is that there would have to be a few other hobbyist FTA market exhibitors as well in order to attract enough FTA hobbyists in attending the event to make it worthwhile. Even though it's affordable, you won't make a return on your investment if the majority of people who come at your booth walk away when you tell them that your product can't be used to receive Dish Network or DirecTV so attracting the right type of attendees is critical.

Perhaps if we can get some sort of commitment ahead of time from other FTA hobbyist market companies that they will exhibit at Eureka Park in 2015, the event could be promoted ahead of time to the FTA hobbyist community in order to make it worthwhile for both exhibitors and attendees to participate in.