The cable television industry is increasingly relying on cable modem services and digital video services, with a new report from In-Stat projecting the total number of world-wide digital cable television subscribers to rise to over 108 million by the end of 2009, up from the current 44 million.
The high-tech market research firm also forecasts that global cable modem subscribers will increase to 99 million by 2009, up from the 50 million expected at the end of this year.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Mike Paxton, senior analyst at In-Stat said: “As key parts of a cable operator’s “triple play” service bundle, cable modem and digital cable video subscriber growth patterns receive a great deal of attention from the cable industry.”
He continued: “In most regions of the world, the near-term growth and high-speed data service bundles will pose a serious challenge to the cable industry in the years to come.”
In-Stat also revealed that there are currently 347 million world-wide cable TV subscriber households, with China, India and the US accounting for 60% of the market.
Growth in US cable television subscriber households is expected to be modest over the next few years, predicted to increase by just three million between the end of 2005 and 2009, from 69 million to 72 million.
Elsewhere, cable TV subscriber growth is forecast to enjoy a surge in China and the Asia-Pacific region, this prediction is echoed in earlier estimates from eMarketer, saying that among the leading countries in the area, there will be around 30 million households accessing digital television via cable, or terrestrial signals at the end of 2005, rising to 170 million by 2010 (see Asia Pacific Leads TV Market).
According to In-Stat, despite the slowing of the market expected in the US, North America still accounts for 55% of all world-wide cable modem subscribers, helping global revenues to reach $22 million by the end of this year, up from $19 billion this year.
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