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Spending on Satellite, Cable TV Boosts Communications Industry

By Staff Writer | August 11, 2003

      Communications spending rebounded 3.3 percent to $608.7 billion in 2002, driven primarily by consumer spending on media such as cable & satellite television, filmed entertainment and video games, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s 2003 Communications Industry Forecast & Report. Growth in 2002 followed a year in which total communications spending declined for the first time in decades.

      The communications industry’s 5.5 percent compound annual growth in the 1997-2002 period outpaced that of the nominal GDP, which rose at a 4.7 percent rate in the period. Communications spending outgrew nominal GDP for four consecutive years until 2001.

      The forecast predicts that communications will remain the fifth-fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy in the 2002-2007 period, growing at a compound annual rate of 6.3 percent to $827.5 billion in 2007, compared with a nominal GDP growth of 5.6 percent during the same forecast period.

      For more information on the Veronis Suhler Stevenson Communications Industry Forecast & Report, visit

      http://www.vss.com. The 2003 edition sells for $2,495 which includes the Communication Industry Report’s five-year summary of financial performance data for the publicly reporting companies with supporting excel charts, all on CD-ROM. To order, call 800-935-4990, ext. 8538.