Let's get digital - digital cable television - Statistical Data Included - Industry Overview

Brandweek, June 11, 2001 by Jim Cooper

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS Paul Allen's company is the youngest and also one of the hungriest cable providers. Where Charter distinguishes itself is in video-on-demand--it's already offering service in Duluth, Ga.; Pasadena/Glendale, Calif.; St. Louis and Fort Worth, Texas. Soon that list will include Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; Madison, Wis.; Hickory, N.C., and parts of Los Angeles. So far, the buy rate is about twice what Charter's traditional pay-per-view service attracted, according to the company.

The goal this year is to double the number of digital subs Charter had in December, to 2 million. It's now at 1.3 million, with 15.2 percent Penetration. Allen et al. want to see about 40 percent penetration by year's end and 80 percent by 2004.

Charters high-speed data business had 250,000 customers as of December. By 2002, a full 90 percent of its systems will be two-way compatible.

COX COMMUNICATIONS Subscribers are offered one big multimedia bundle. Like its peers, Cox calls its new services--digital, voice, data--revenue-generating units, or RGUs. About 12 percent of Cox's 6.1 million total subscribers were opting for at least two new services at the beginning of this year.

Cox now has about 900,000 digital customers, with a goal this year to add around 40,000 per month. The company has about 550,000 data customers and 300,000 phone customers in 17 markets. Digital phone service should be available to 35 percent of Cox's total customer base by the end of 2001.

ADELPHIA COMMUNICATIONS Owned and run by the Rigas family, Adelphia, like its larger peers, has spent aggressively to attain state-of-the-art lines. The goal is for 70 percent of the system to be upgraded this year.

The company has been aiming to add 150,000 digital subscribers each month to the 900,000 it had at the end of 2000. Power Link, its high-speed data offering, now has about 148,000 customers, and Adelphia expects to take that up to 375,000 by year's end. Look for video and data services to be bundled this year.

CABLEVISION SYSTEMS While it leads the industry in growing basic analog subscriptions, New York metro-focused Cablevision has been behind the curve in launching digital services. The company will finally roll out its Sony advanced digital set-tops on Long Island in the fall. New York--area Comcast employees are currently testing the devices.

Cablevision has had success with its cable modem sales, via its Wiz electronic retail stores in the tristate area. The high-speed service, Optimum Online, is available to about 2 million Cablevision customers. More than 300,000 were enrolled at the beginning of the year, and 5,000 per week signed on in the first quarter.

The company's telephony strategy is focused on commercial deployment of the company's Lightpath service.