As of late last month, U.S. Digital Television, USDTV, the first over-the-air digital subscription cable channel service in the United States, had surpassed 10,000 subscribers.
Since its launch in March, the company has introduced its low-priced alternative to cable in Salt Lake City; Albuquerque, NM; and Las Vegas, with plans for additional market roll outs this year.
More than half of USDTV customers don’t subscribe to cable or satellite, but continue to use regular VHF/UHF antennas for their television service, according to the company.
Company research shows subscribers are attracted to high-quality content, DVD/HD picture and low cost.
In the fourth quarter of 2004, USDTV will introduce a next-generation set-top box featuring Zenith’s fifth-generation 8-VSB reception technology from LG Electronics and MPEG-4 compression. (See New 8-VSB decoder, ATSC tuner technology could change distribution equation in the Aug. 16 edition of RF Update.)
For more information, visit www.usdtv.com.
