Nearly One Quarter of TV Sets in the US Only get Broadcast TV
70% of TV Sets in Cable Households Do Not Have a Set-Top Box
Durham, NH – May 3, 2007 – New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 23% of all TV sets in consumers’ homes do not receive cable or Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) programming. This represents over 70 million TV sets in US households that only receive over-the-air broadcast television.
While just 15% of households nationwide do not subscribe to cable, DBS, or any other type of multi-channel video service, these households account for only half of all broadcast-only TV sets. The other half are in households that subscribe to cable or DBS. Nine percent of TV sets in cable households are broadcast-only, and 19% of TV sets in DBS households are broadcast-only.
These findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,600 randomly selected households from throughout the United States and are part of a new LRG study, Cable and DBS: Competing for Customers 2007. This is LRG’s fifth annual study of this topic.
Other key findings include:
- 70% of all TV sets in cable households are not connected to a set-top box
- 42% of households that subscribe to cable TV do not have any cable set-top boxes
- The mean number of TV sets in digital cable households is 3.1 – compared to 2.7 in analog cable households; 2.9 in DBS households (where cable is available); and 2.1 in households that do not subscribe to a TV service
“Just 36% of all TV sets in the U.S. are currently connected to a cable or DBS set-top converter box,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “With the digital transition now less than two years away, much work clearly still needs to be done to prevent millions of TV sets from going dark in February 2009.”
About Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) specializes in research and analysis on broadband, media and entertainment industries. LRG combines on-going surveys and analysis with years of hands-on industry experience to provide companies with a richer understanding of the potential impact and adoption of new products and services. For more information about LRG, please call (603) 397-5400 or visit www.LeichtmanResearch.com.
Cable & DBS: Competing for Customers 2007 is based on a telephone survey of 1,600 adults age 18+ from throughout the continental US that was conducted in March 2007. The random sample of respondents was distributed to best reflect the demographic and geographic make-up of the US. The overall sample has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.5%.
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