Americans’ love affair with HD TV hit an all-time high this Christmas season, thanks to bigger, crisper screens at affordable prices. So it came as no surprise that they started calling their cable companies, satellite providers and IPTV operators, screaming for set-top boxes that would allow them to watch HD signals.

The demand for HD set-top boxes has been particularly high at Verizon and Cox Communications. Both companies are experiencing serious set-top box shortages, because their key supplier Motorola didn’t plan on such a blockbuster holiday season.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Motorola has told Verizon that for an undetermined amount of time the company won’t be able to supply all the HD boxes that Verizon needs, Verizon says. The New York-based phone company said its orders were at the high end of a range of expectations it had earlier given Motorola.

Motorola also sells set-top boxes to many of the major cable operators that compete with Verizon. Cable operator Cox Communications Inc. has also been affected by the shortage, although Cox won’t elaborate on the situation.

Apparently, mobile phones isn’t the only product line Moto can’t seem to get a handle on.