YNOT – Three million U.S. households already employing broadband internet connections plan to purchase internet-connected televisions this holiday season, according to International market research firm Parks Associates.

The news is good for purveyors of digital goods, but the prediction provides further evidence of eroding consumer need and desire for brick-and-mortar entertainment sources, the company noted. Millions of U.S. households already use other web-enabled consumer electronics (CE) to watch on-demand video, and they have found the convenience and savings too good to resist, a spokesman said.

Nearly 25 percent of U.S. broadband households own at least one connected TV device, and one-fourth of those households have watched a paid movie on demand at least once during the past month, according to Parks Associates’ Connected CE Tracker, part of the firm’s Consumer Decision Process Service. Parks Associates analysts predict connected CE devices will be top sellers during the 2010 holiday shopping season.

“Only 38 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a CE device this year, but it’s the connected CE and smartphones that will be the most popular items,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst for Parks Associates. “Connected devices are the future of content consumption and entertainment in the living room, as they capture the broader trends of integration among different silos in consumers’ lives. We will continue to follow their sales through 2011 with Connected CE Tracker.”

Connected devices include web-enabled game consoles, Blu-ray Disc players, tablet computers including the iPad, and digital video players including Roku and Apple TV. By the end of 2010, more than 40 million U.S. consumers will have a broadband-connected game console, more than eight million will have a PC-to-TV connection, more than five million will have a connected Blu-ray player, and more than four million will have a networked digital video player, Parks predicts.

However, even the significant enthusiasm for these devices does not completely offset the drop in CE buying intentions reported for this holiday shopping season. In 2009, almost 50 percent of U.S. broadband households planned a CE purchase.

“Manufacturers, retailers and technology providers are noting the tight consumer purse strings and continue to roll out the deals,” said Parks Associates Chief Executive Officer Tricia Parks. “Consumers want deals. That is their trigger as economic conditions have made them more cautious buyers. Market players must stress the value and convenience of internet-connected devices. It helps that consumers may choose to save the cost of a video membership and eliminate a trip to the store or kiosk.”