More People Own Satellites In Cable Areas

GfK’s Satellite Monitor for September shows that satellite dishes are twice as popular in areas which are served by cable television operators, than in those that are not. 20% of homes which are now passed by cable own satellite equipment, while only 10% of homes in non-cable areas own dishes.

This could reflect that local publicity from cable companies actually encourages people to buy satellite dishes as an alternative to having their front gardens dug up, says John Binks of GfK, but equally it could reflect that cabled areas – urban with high density housing, were also among the early adopters of satellite channels.

GfK’s research also estimates that around 4,000 satellite dish users switch over to cable every month, with a total of approximately 900,000 British homes now receiving satellite channels via cable. This number is growing at around 20,000 per month. The number of British households with Satellite dishes is still growing faster than cable however, with the increase for September at 47,000, bringing the total number of Satellite households to 2,763,000. For the first eight months of 1994, satellite dish growth was lower than during the equivalent period in 1993. September’s figures mean that growth is now slightly ahead of 1993. Total growth during the first 9 months of 1994 was 297,000, compared with 283,000 for the same period in 1993.