Expanded Digital Services a Boom to Cable TV Operators

Cable modem service and digital video service have helped North American cable operators more than double their average revenue per subscriber in the past five years, according to In-Stat. Thanks to infrastructure upgrades in recent years, virtually all leading cable TV operators are now able to offer these new services across their entire operational footprint. ¶ “These expanded digital services are allowing cable operators to differentiate their services from competing telecommunications and pay-TV service providers,” says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. “In effect, cable modem service and digital cable video service is permitting the creation of a compelling service bundle that attracts new customers to cable TV services, while helping to keep existing customers from changing their service provider.” ¶ In-Stat has also found that: • Cable modem service revenues have become increasingly important to cable operators. Worldwide revenues for cable modem services exceeded $18 billion in 2004, up from $14 billion in 2003. • There were 42 million worldwide cable modem subscribers at the end of 2004, up from a total of 31 million at year-end 2003. • Worldwide digital cable TV video service subscribers reached 42 million at year-end 2004, a 20% increase over subscriber totals in 2003. North America accounted for 27 million of these digital cable TV video subscribers. ... Link: In-Stat press release.