Cable And Satellite Round-Up 1996

1996 was another year of steady growth for the number of homes that could receive Cable and Satellite. The ITC’s October analysis of the Cable industry showed that the number of homes passed has grown by 2 million over the last year from 6.18 million to 8.22 million though the penetration rate grew by only 0.2% points to 21.2%. The number of homes receiving satellite showed a small increase with 3.61 million against 3.23 million last year.

The largest household category receiving cable and satellite was C1, although there was an increase of 1% point for both D and E households. According to BARB Astra panel figures, for individual 4+ viewers the highest percentage share of viewing to Astra channels was in April (35.0%) while the lowest individual share came in June (30.8%).

Industry news included the merger of Nynex, the second largest cable company with Mercury Communications and Bell Cablemedia to create a new UK company called Cable and Wireless Communications. It has also been reported that the BBC has begun talks with cable companies regarding the creation of eight new cable only channels.