• by Aaron Baar , October 13, 2011

Marketers, your worst fears are coming true: the digital video recorder is becoming a standard in many U.S. households.

According to a new study by J.D. Power and Associates, 45% of cable subscribers have DVR subscriptions in 2011 (up from 38% in 2010). Among satellite TV subscribers, DVR ownership is at 64% in 2011 (compared with 59% in 2010). In addition, the number of households with more than one DVR box has also increased. Among cable subscribers, 35% have more than one box (compared with 28% last year), and among satellite customers, 45% have more than one DVR (compared with 40% in 2010).

That’s the bad news. The good news, at least for cable and satellite TV companies, is the increased adoption is driving increased revenues. Also driving increase revenues: video-on-demand programming, for which viewership on cable systems increased to 39% from 35% in 2010, and up to 18% from 16% for satellite subscribers. According to the study, the average monthly bill for triple-play customers (those who subscribe to a carrier’s phone, Internet and television package) increased to $149.52 in 2011 from $140.90 in 2010.

“Households are continually growing their relationship with the television service providers,” Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates, tells Marketing Daily. “With the drop in costs of HDTVs, people are increasing the number of TVs in their homes and hooking them up [to satellite, cable and DVRs.”

The study also measured customer satisfaction with their cable, satellite and Internet television providers in four regions (North Central, East, West and South). AT&T’s U-verse product ranked highest in the West, South and North Central regions (with index scores of 686, 687 and 699, respectively, on a 1,000-point scale). DirecTV ranked highest in the East, with a score of 686.