China and Latin America Key Drivers of Worldwide Cable 'Triple Play' Market

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — During a period marked by a global recession and an increasingly competitive telecommunications environment, cable’s “triple play” of video, voice, and high-speed data services continues to attract new subscribers. While worldwide growth in cable video subscribers has been impressive, North America’s and Europe’s growth has come to a virtual halt. The majority of new cable TV subscribers will come from China, which will be the primary market that drives worldwide cable TV subscribers to over 500 million by 2014, says In-Stat. Meanwhile, the Latin America market is showing strong growth across all three of the triple-play components of the video, modem, and telephony service bundle.

“In the past, most cable TV operators viewed themselves simply as video service providers,” says Mike Paxton, Principal Analyst. “But as the competition for pay-TV services evolved, cable’s ‘triple play’ became an important tool to hold on to video customers, while upselling additional services. Today, in many cable TV markets, cable telephony and cable modem subscribers are providing solid subscriber growth while cable video subscribers are either flat or decreasing.”

New research by In-Stat reveals the following:

• Latin America will have over 4 times as many cable telephony subscribers in 2014 as compared to 2009.
• On a worldwide basis, cable TV subscriber households increased by 3% between October 2009 and September 2010. During that same twelve month period, cable modem cable telephony service subscribers grew by low double-digit percentages.
• Between October 2009 and September 2010, China added approximately 15 million new subscriber households.
• A combination of economic stress and cut-throat competition from satellite TV and telco TV service providers has driven down total US cable TV subscriber households by over 1 million in the past year.

The research, Cable’s Triple Play: Worldwide Video, Voice, and High-Speed Data Subscribers (#IN1004671MBS) covers the markets for cable modem, cable telephony, and cable TV video services. It discusses the impact of cable’s “triple play” service bundle by examining the technology standards, market dynamics, and subscriber growth trends for each service on a global basis. It includes:

• Worldwide and regional subscriber forecasts for cable TV service, cable modem service and cable telephony service through 2014.
• Country-by-country subscriber data for cable TV subscribers, digital cable TV subscribers, and cable modem subscribers.
• Cable operator profiles include: Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, KDG, Liberty Global, Megacable, Net Serviços de Comunicação, Numericable, Rogers Cable, Shaw Communications, Time Warner Cable, Virgin Media, Wire & Wireless (India) Ltd.