Commentary
Digital Cable Surpasses Satellite with Digital Customers
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, June 5, 2003
Horowitz Associates has just released Transitioning to the Digital Home, a study of the cable industry that reports that we are clearly on the verge of critical mass in the penetration of all things digital. Two out of three consumers (64%) say their home is now (38%), or about to become (26%), "digital."
The key driver of this transformation, the report states, has been the competition between cable and satellite. Small dish penetration has increased from 1% in 1994, when the study first queried consumers about satellite subscriptions, to 17% now. In response, in just the five years since 1998 digital cable has gone from 3% in 1998 to 21%. Penetration of digital services delivered by cable providers now exceeds that of satellite, originally the only digital player.
Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Associates, Inc., says "There is no doubt-- the consumer is going digital, and the competition for digital customers is driving the launch of the most advanced services-PVR, VOD, HDTV. In fact, the consumer is way out in front of the both the service providers and the content providers, who must quickly and urgently address compatibility, convergence and rights management issues."
Cable system operators interviewed for the State of Cable and Broadband have, over the years, aggressively sought to drive their businesses by rolling out new services and technologies. The top services carried in 1993 included:
In 2002, services include:
One out of five operators in the latest study offer VOD from content packagers, 11% are offering server-based VOD, and 6% offering PVR technology.
Source: Horowitz Associates, Inc. Email: adrianaw@horowitzassociates.com
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.