A new report issued from Strategy Analytics states that while providers of direct-to-home satellite television service providers signed up more than three million customers last year, the impact on most cable operators was relatively small. The report found that while DirecTV and EchoStar added about 3.2 million customers collectively in 2004, the 10 largest cable operators together lost fewer than 500,000 basic subscribers. The report notes that while DTH services may have halted the slow-but- steady growth cable enjoyed until the late 1990s, DTH’s broader impact has been to expand the total base of multichannel TV homes. “While some new satellite customers formerly had cable access, a much larger number appear to be first-time multichannel customers,” James Penhune, director of Strategy Analytics’ Broadband Media and Communications research program, said in a prepared statement.