Cable Counts 7.8 Million CableCard Set-Tops
Top 10 Operators Have Put 374,000 Standalone CableCards Into Service
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 9/22/2008 8:31:00 AM MT
The 10 biggest cable operators have deployed another 1.6 million set-top boxes with CableCards in them in the last three months to stand at 7.8 million put into service since July 2007, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said in a report Monday.
The NCTA released the figures as part of the industry’s compliance with Federal Communications Commission regulations intended to promote the use of cable-ready devices not leased by a cable company.
Meanwhile, those same 10 MSOs have distributed 374,000 standalone CableCards for use in digital-cable-ready products (like TiVos and TV sets) to date—less than 5% of the total number of operator-supplied CableCard-based set-tops.
The top 10 cable operators serve about 90% of the cable subscribers in the country.
Currently, 29 consumer electronics manufacturers have had 594 unidirectional digital cable ready products certified for use with CableCards.
