Telewest Puts Digital Strategy On Hold As Box Shortage Affects Cable Industry

Telewest Communications has been forced to put its digital plans on hold due to a shortage of set-top boxes. The cable group said that it has stopped actively marketing its digital services until the problem is resolved.

The whole of the cable industry is being affected by the shortage, as demand for services increases. There is currently a world-wide shortage of the flash memory chips needed for the boxes, thus slowing down their production. The group said it is working closely with Pace Microsytems, its supplier, and believes normal supply levels will be restored shortly.

The news will further delay the cable television groups full entrance into the battle for subscribers to digital systems; the groups were late in their digital launches and now lag far behind other platforms in terms of customers. The first digital cable service was launched by CWC last year (see CWC Digital Service Attracts 46,000 Subscribers). Telewest launched its digital cable service in October last year (see Telewest Launches Digital Service) and now has 156,000 subscribers.

NTL finally launched its digital cable service in May this year and is hoping to attract 300,000 customers by the end of this year (see NTL Launches Digital Cable Services). Rival digital platforms ONdigital and Sky have 774,000 and 3m subscribers respectively.

Shares in Telewest fell 10% to 231žp on the news.

Telewest Communications: 01483 750 900