Cable Takes 40% Share

The proportion of viewing time spent watching cable and satellite programmes was over 40% for adults and 50% for children in broadband cable homes, according to the latest viewing survey commissioned by the Cable Authority (071 821 6161). The research was conducted during October by Continental Research (071 490 5944) and is based on 696 one week diaries, derived from 348 respondents aged 2+. Sky Movies was the most popular cable channel, taking 10.9% of all viewing, compared with 2.7% for BSB Movies. Sky One took second place, with a 9.8% share of all viewing, compared to a share of 3.1% for BSB’s Galaxy channel. If those homes subscribing to Sky Movies are taken as the universe, then its share rises to 14.5%. BSB Movies,in homes subscribing to it, received a share of 7.8%, still less than Sky Movies share of 13.5% in the same homes In professional households, the news channels (Sky News, CNN) had a higher share of viewing than the movie channels. Amongst children, the Children’s Channel took 16.7%, whilst MTV and the Power Station took most of their viewers from the 16-24 age range. Over 90% of the sample said they were satisfied with the service they received, but the study showed that ITV (27.5% share) and BBC (22.6% share) are still the most popular channels.