Satellite Ownership Survey

Research commissioned by ITV from the monitoring bureau Gfk shows that the net increase in satellite dish ownership is down by 13% so far this year.

Satellite dish ownership for October is estimated at 2,328 million dishes; an increase of 30,000 dishes on the previous month, and a total increase of 36,000 since the end of August, the time when the Sky Multichannel package was launched.

The slow down in growth of dish ownership is due largely to the number of dishes being returned, known as “churn” This became more pronounced in September, following the introduction of encryption. In the third quarter of 1993, churn amounted to 94,000 dishes, of which 60,000 were returned in September. This figure is more than twice that for the same quarter in 1992 when 42,000 dishes were decomissioned.

The average net sales of dishes from January to October is down 14% with 31,000 dishes a month sold this year compared with 36,000 last year.

NET INCREASES IN SATELLITE DISH

OWNERSHIP - TO OCTOBER 1993

SOURCE GFK HOME AUDIT 0932 354911