The increasing competitiveness of the U.S. pay-TV market continues to drive cable TV operators in the United States to invest in their networks and roll out new services, according to In-Stat.
A recent In-Stat survey of 50 U.S. cable system operators found that 90 percent now offer HD video service. Competition from telco TV services, such as those offered by Verizon and AT&T as well as from direct-to-home satellite providers, is forcing cable TV operators to develop new revenue streams while attempting to hold onto existing subscribers, said In-Stat analyst Mike Paxton.
The survey revealed:
- 84 percent of cable systems currently have 750MHz or more of available bandwidth.
- With the exception of increasing the number of available 6MHz channels for HD video services, most cable systems plan to keep their channel allocations for video services relatively static through the next 12 months.
- OCAP-enabled cable set-top boxes are just starting to be deployed in cable systems across the country. Twenty-six percent of survey respondents said they have deployed OCAP-enabled set-top boxes.
- The take-up rate for cable modem service continues to grow. Respondents reported that 42 percent of their cable TV subscribers now subscribe to cable modem service.
- Fifty-four percent of the cable systems said that a telephone company was already offering telco TV video service in their cable TV service area footprint.
For more information, visit http://email.in-stat.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eBGBt0KU6X30K560FCJp0E7.
