• May 3, 2006

Cable subscribers want more choice and control in cable viewing across the board, according to findings from media research firm Arbitron released in a report called "Arbitron Cable Television Study: Exploring the Consumer's Relationship with Cable TV." Sixty-two percent felt that basic cable should be able to air any kind of content it wants--a number that rose to 77 percent for premium cable. Cable customers would also like to be able to pick the channels they want and pay for only those, rather than having to buy entire cable packages, by a margin of 54 percent to 42 percent. In video on demand (VOD), the Arbitron study found that a free, ad-supported model was most popular with 47 percent of respondents endorsing it, over fee-per-program, with 42 percent.

--Erik Sass