Satellite TV Gaining Ground

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its ninth annual report on competition in the market for the delivery of video programming.

The report finds that cable television still is the dominant technology for the delivery of video programming to consumers, although its market share continues to decline. As of June 2002, 76.5 percent of all subscribers to multichannel video program distributor (MVPD) services received their programming from a franchised cable operator, compared to 78 percent a year earlier.

The total number of non-cable MVPD subscribers grew to 21.1 million as of June 2002 from 19.3 million as of June 2001, an increase of more than nine percent. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service has grown significantly and now represents 20.3 percent of all MVPD subscribers. Between June 2001 and June 2002, the number of DBS subscribers grew from almost 16 million households to about 18 million households, which is significantly higher than the cable subscriber growth rate.