Cable Services Taken By Over 30% Of Homes

In a new measure of cable penetration, the ITC’s latest cable statistics show that 30.6% of homes in cabled areas are connected to the local system. These are the homes which take at least one of the services provided by the local cable operator, whether cable television, cable telephone or both.

ITC’s latest statistics, for the first quarter of 1996 show that over 500,000 new homes have been passed since the last quarter. There are now 108 operating franchises and cable subscription in terms of total TV homes has now reached 6.09%, compared to 5.91% last quarter. As regards to individual franchises Birmingham still remains the area with the largest number of homes connected; at 92,999 this is almost twice as many as the next highest, the Black Country.

Other news from ITC’s quarterly statistics shows that the average monthly cable television subscription has risen to £24.98, including VAT, compared with £23.32 a year ago. This means that the television part of the cable business is generating annual revenues (after VAT) of £360 million.

For the first time, more homes have a cable telephone than cable television. In the last three months the number of residential telephone lines has increased by 182,000 to almost 1.47 million, compared with a rise of 96,000 (to over 1.42 million) in the number of cable TV connections.

Finally, the number of new homes passed in a twelve month period has for the first time exceeded 2 million, illustrating the continuing rise in the pace of cable construction.