Satellite TV First: Dish Dominates Cable in DMA

[Chris Blount]

Independent media services company Horizon Media said its analysts recently uncovered a new satellite TV milestone: For the first time dish-based services have reached a higher household penetration than cable in a local market.
This month, Springfield, Mo., became the first TV market to have a greater household penetration for satellite TV (39.6 percent) than the wired cable penetration (39.2 percent), Horizon said.

Additionally, Meridian, Miss., became the first DMA to have a household satellite TV penetration of 40 percent. By contrast, just five years ago only one TV market had a satellite TV penetration figure above 25 percent, the company said.

"Locally, this will have an impact on TV advertising revenue for cable operators who are gradually losing market share," Horizon said.

http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)

[Laverne]

....This month, Springfield, Mo., became the first TV market to have a greater household penetration for satellite TV (39.6 percent) than the wired cable penetration (39.2 percent), Horizon said....Woo-hoo! :joy:

YES! :icon_da:

That's cuz Mediacom just kept going up. It seriously cost me ~1.5x the :money: three years ago with cable than it does today with E*, for slightly less programming!

[invaliduser88]

Who is the local cable monopoly for that area, so we can shame them in this thread as well?

[Laverne]

Who is the local cable monopoly for that area, so we can shame them in this thread as well?Uh, Mediacom? :sure:

[invaliduser88]

I'm paying goooood attention today.... :P

[SamC]

Rural America and small markets: THE natural DBS market.

Most big city customers choose DBS on price or to get 1 or 2 channels that cable doesn't have. In small markets, DBS is the first oportunity that people have had for good TV.

Sadly, DBS, particularly DirecTV, fails to understand rural markets.

[BFG]

LoL a press release over .4% margain? That could change next month...

[lazaruspup]

ummm, yeah depending on current cable specials, it could have already changed. LOL What do you want to bet, that Mediacom, or whoever their local cable outlet is, is fast working on a solution to that problem.

[Jacob S]

You would think that the cable company would do something about it but maybe they think there is more to lose by dropping rates than adding more customers. They may end up not making any additional money with the extra subs if they charge a lot less to compete against satellite more. Still this is two satellite company compared to one cable company.

[Laverne]

Rural America and small markets: THE natural DBS market...FYI, Springfield is the third-largest city in Missouri. It had a population of just over 150,000 in 2000, and Greene county (of which it is the seat) had numbers of about half a million. (And I have no idea how many more are included in the Springfield DMA.) Small markets? Hardly. :rolleyes:


Lazaruspup, I know that in Branson the cable company is Cox, but in Springfield it's definitely Mediacom. I should know, I just finished living there for 4 years. :)

[SamC]

A DMA is far larger than a core city.

The Springfield DMA is number 78 and has 388,000 households, which is 0.35% of the national population. Its 26 counties in MO and 6 counties in AR.

A primarialy rural area.

That is why it doesn't really matter much in this discussion who the cable bandit in Springfield is. The growth in this is at the expense of the, I am sure just awful, cable bandits in the small towns in the rural counties around Springfield, as well as the godsend that DBS is to farmers who had no access to cable TV, or to TV at all, before the BUD.

[Cholly]

There's no doubt that DBS is a boon to areas not served by cable (small towns, rural areas). It's also the answer for people who live in communities served by cable where the satellite company provides LIL and their rates are lower than cable. If the playing field were level and the satellite companies were free to offer distant network HD feeds, there would be a LOT of people dumping cable.
LIL+distant net HD = winning package. I never would have left Dish if they had been available here.

[Richard King]

LoL a press release over .4% margain? That could change next month...Actually, a .4% margin is very much worth a press release considering the long established head start and entrenchment that the cable industry has had. What would you consider significant? Should they wait to make the announcement until the lead was .5%, maybe 1%, possibly 10%? The trend is in the satellite industry's favor and this press release proves it.

[Laverne]

Actually, a .4% margin is very much worth a press release considering the long established head start and entrenchment that the cable industry has had. What would you consider significant? Should they wait to make the announcement until the lead was .5%, maybe 1%, possibly 10%? The trend is in the satellite industry's favor and this press release proves it.And also a fact that some people don't know: SW MO -- although still rural and full of cows and alfalfa, caves and rivers -- is becoming more and more urbanized at astronomical rates. I worked for a real estate broker and he told us that even when home sales were down after 9/11 that SW MO never even felt it. Why? I don't know, but I think Springfield is on some top list of places to live in the US. Not to mention Branson, and all the recreation associated with the lakes and rivers. So those cable fingers are reaching farther and farther out. And yet, satellite is still winning.