Digital Landscape Changing

[Gregg Lengling]

As digital offerings flourish among multichannel subscribers, issues related to customer satisfaction and churn also grow, according to the "State of Digital and Interactive Television 2004" study from Horowitz Associates.

The study, consisting of a telephone survey of 800 cable and satellite TV consumers in digital cable areas, tracks the growth of the market for digital cable and satellite services.

Where offered, 28 percent of consumers surveyed say they have digital cable service while 20 percent have a dish. In all, almost half (45 percent) of multichannel households in markets where digital cable is available are on a digital platform, either from a cable or satellite TV provider, Horowitz says.

The consumer data suggests today's competitive landscape is quite different from the early years of satellite TV and digital cable deployment. In contrast to satellite's early positioning as the more advanced "premium" service, consumer data from the study finds consumers on digital cable's more robust platform are more likely to fit the profile of high-end technology consumers, Horowitz says.

Two-thirds (65 percent) of digital cable subscribers in the study pay for premium channels, with 42 percent paying for two or more of those channels, the study states. In contrast, a little more than half (55 percent) of satellite TV subscribers interviewed in the survey say they pay for premium channels, with 37 percent multi-pay premium subscribers.

"Over the past few years, since the mass deployment of digital cable, there has been an important shift in the marketing or, and subsequently, consumer perception of, the competing platforms." says Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Associates.

"Digital cable's positioning and pricing puts itself in the category of a more expensive, but valuable service because it can deliver technology and services that simply are not available on satellite," he says. "The satellite providers, aware of the limitations of their platform, have successfully shifted their focus from attracting the 'early adopter techies' to appealing to the budget-conscious consumer."

For more on Horowitz Associates, visit: http://www.horowitzassociates.com.

[gparris]

It looks like the satellite customer is more about what they can get on the cheap rather than the long term and high-end subscriber.
No wonder Directv is pushing for as close to maximum coverage for the complete country for locals, of course, in SD. It hasn't done what was promised awhile ago about more HD channel offerings, not even adding TNT-HD like Dishnetwork did just to match them. Maybe soon..but July is almost over and last year they added that 4-HD channel package in July so...what is taking so long?
 Is "Joe Six-Pack" more important than a higher-end sub for HD channels?
I know that as a cable subscriber-only, now, I have 58 SD premium movie channels to Directv's 31, so it seems to hold out the statistics that if you want digitally delivered premium channels, you go the digital cable route more than the satellite customer, who is after the free boxes ($5/box/month after 1st one...not so free) and the more simple Total Choice minimums.
This isn't to say that it is a  bad thing, it just makes sense if the statistics are correct.
IF the analogue channels ever go away with a special device that was discussed in one of the past threads  that converts the digital service to analogue sets without a box, cable might just be the right decision, after all.
mhz40 once wrote that if you got rid of the 70 remaining analogue channels, 140 HD and 140 SD channels could be added (mhz40 correct me if I am wrong).
Then what would the satellite companies do? Probably invent a new technology for additional delivery if it is possible, in order to compete.
:cool: