Cable penetration hits 21-Year Low

Wired-cable penetration of American TV households hit a 21-year low as more consumers opted to receive video programming via satellite (here called an alternate delivery system or ADS) than ever before, according to a TVB analysis of Nielsen Media Research data for November 2010. According to Nielsen NTI data, national ADS penetration reached 30.5% of television households last month, an all-time high that is up from 29.3% in November 2009, and now represents 33.7% of subscription television customers (those paying for video delivery), another all-time high. Meanwhile, wired-cable penetration represented 60.7% of households in November 2010, down from 61.7% in November 2009. The only time it had been lower was in November 1989 when wired-cable penetration was at 59.7%.