ITC Cable Statistics Show Continued Decline
The ITC has released its cable TV statistics for the second quarter of 2002, showing that the total number of cable TV subscriptions has fallen by 5.5% year on year to 3.44 million, down from 3.64 million in the same period the previous year.
During the first quarter of 2002, 74,000 consumers cancelled subscriptions to cable TV, with a further 104,000 departing cable services during the second quarter of the year. According to the ITC, “ongoing operational difficulties” were the chief reason behind consumer dissatisfaction with cable TV.
| ITC Cable Statistics – Comparison By Quarter | |||
| 1 July 2002 | 1 April 2002 | 1July 2001 | |
| Homes Passed | 12,418,796 | 12,489,049 | 12,619,364 |
| Homes Connected (TV and/or Phone) | 4,459,877 | 4,543,365 | 4,616,527 |
| Cable Service Penetration* | 36% | 36% | 37% |
| Homes Connected (TV) | 3,440,442 | 3,544,008 | 3,642,000 |
| Digital Homes Connected | 2,066,766 | 2,028,360 | 1,516,308 |
| TV Penetration | 28% | 28% | 29% |
| Cable TV Subs as a % of TV Homes | 14% | 14% | 15% |
*Cable service penetration records the percentage of homes passed and marketed taking services offered by a cable operator, of whatever nature. “TV penetration” records the percentage of homes passed and marketed that take TV.
The report shows that the uptake of digital cable rollout is continuing to make progress and despite an overall fall in the total number of cable subscribers (analogue and digital), digital subscribers increased by 38,000 during Q2 2002. Of the 3.44 million cable TV subscribers just over 2 million are currently receiving a digital service, representing a 26.6% increase on Q2 last year and 1.9% growth on Q1 2002.
The closure of ITV Digital has meant that all pay digital terrestrial subscribers cease to exist (hence the lack of share data for the digital TV market). However, former ITV Digital subscribers are able to receive free-to-air services and will form the majority of Freeview’s initial customers when it launches later this year (see BBC And BSkyB Name Free-To-Air DTT Service).
According to the ITC, satellite has increased its share of the pay TV market by 12.2 percentage points between Q2 2000 and Q2 2002, in comparison cable has seen it share of the market decline by 3.3 percentage points during the same period.
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