Cable’s pay-TV share falls as satellite and telecom grow, FCC says
The FCC released a few details of its upcoming report on the state of video competition, which shows that the cable industry continues to lose subscribers to other pay-TV distributors including satellite broadcasters.
From the end of 2010 to June last year, the number of pay-TV subscribers increased slightly to 101 million from 100.8 million, less than a percentage point, the FCC said Friday.
However, cable’s share of subscribers fell to 55.7% from 59.3% at the end of 2011.
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Satellite TV firms increased their share to 33.6% from 33.1%, but growth was faster for the telecom companies.
The telecom sector boosted its share to 8.4% from 6.9% as companies including AT&T and Verizon landed new subscribers with bundled television, Internet and telephone services.
Online delivery of television programming is also on the rise. The FCC cited financial information firm SNL Kagan, which estimated the number of households accessing TV through Internet-connected devices may have grown to nearly 42 million in 2012. That would account for more than 35% of TV households.
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