Keyed by launches with top distributor Comcast, Ovation TV has lifted its subscriber base to some 35 million.
Officials at the arts and contemporary culture network said it rolled out on Comcast systems serving the Philadelphia, San Francisco and Atlanta DMAs. Earlier in the year, Ovation TV added carriage on Comcast systems in Portland, Ore. and Houston, and gained rollouts in St. Louis with Charter and in Dayton, Ohio with Time Warner Cable.
All told, Ovation TV added 5 million subscribers in 2009, according to network officials.
"We anticipated that 2009 was going to be a challenging year due to market conditions, but our distribution team has succeeded beyond our expectations," said Ovation TV executive vice president Ron Garfield in a statement. "Thanks to carriage agreements with Comcast, Time Warner and Charter, we are now in all of the top 10 DMAs, and 21 of the top 25 cable markets. In less than three years, we have added 30 million subscribers. Considering Ovation TV is an independent network in an increasingly consolidated business environment, our steady, significant growth is quite extraordinary and really speaks to the consumer demand for the art and culture category."
The network also launched local video-on-demand content in the Chicago market and provides both original content and licensed programming to Comcast's Xfinity on-line on-demand service.
In 2010, Ovation TV said it plans to roll out out local VOD channels in eight additional markets and increase the programming available for authenticated online viewing.
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