OTTAWA – Despite the availability of new ways to acquire video content, there is not yet any sign of co-called “cord-cutting” among Canadians who continue to subscribe to Canadian television service providers such as cable, satellite, and telephone companies, according to new research.
In fact, the new study from Ottawa’s Boon Dog Professional Services shows that Canadian BDUs are actually continuing to add subscribers.
The number of Canadian households subscribing to a traditional TV service such as cable or satellite increased by about 29,000 (less than 1%) in the second quarter of 2010 to top an estimated 11.3 million, according to the newly published report in Boon Dog’s the Canadian Digital TV Market Monitor research series.
The conversion of the TV distribution market from analog to digital also continues, with more than 181,000 digital TV subscribers (a growth of 2%) added in the quarterly period ended May/June 2010.
“While there has been much speculation and talk lately about consumers ‘cutting the cord’ and cancelling their television subscription services in favour of ‘over?the?top’ video services offered through the Internet, our latest research shows the traditional Canadian TV distribution market continues to grow,” says Mario Mota, Boon Dog co?founder and principal author of the research series.
A selection of key findings from the research also includes:
• The number of digital TV subscribers in Canada topped 8.6 million in Q2 2010, representing 76% of all TV subscribers;
• Year?over?year (May/June 2009 to May/June 2010), the number of digital TV subscribers increased by 12% or more than 950,000, compared to 13% growth (or more than 871,000) in the same period a year prior;
• At Q2 2010, cable had a 62% share of digital TV subscribers, followed by satellite at 33%, IPTV (telephone companies) at 5%, and wireless cable at less than 1%;
• An estimated 42% of all digital TV subscribers (or more than 3.6 million) were HDTV-ready at Q2 2010, meaning they have an HDTV set?top box that allows them to watch true HDTV programming; and
• At Q2 2010, an estimated 62% of all digital TV subscribers (or more than 5.3 million) had access to video?on?demand (VOD) through their cable or IPTV service provider.
For more information, please call (613) 834-2740; mota.bdps@rogers.com
