Digital cable television falls behind broadband in Europe

According to the European Cable Yearbook 2002, just released by media analysts Screen Digest on behalf of the European Cable Communications Association (ECCA), the year 2002 has been an important one for the cable industry.
The pace of change has been relentless and the shift in market values across the telecoms sector has forced many cable companies to change their priorities. As result, consolidation has been placed on hold, but the upgrading of networks is continuing.
Guy Bisson the report's author, claims: “The markets have forced a more measured approach to the execution of business plans, which has seen the cable industry step back from expensive technology upgrades. Many of those business plans were based on forecasts that were simply naïve in their bullishness. When the cable industry emerges from the dark days of the previous two years, it will have learnt many valuable lessons”.
Although conditions vary across the different European territories, the march to broadband, particularly the provision of high-speed Internet has continued apace. If there is one service that has emerged as the ‘killer application’ for cable, then broadband Internet is it.
Digital cable television, by contrast, has not been as popular across most European countries. At year-end 2001, there were a total of 3.3m digital cable subscribers across Europe, although up 114% on 2000. Contrary to the proven popularity of cable Internet services across the Benelux group, digital cable subscriber take-up is led by the UK, having just fewer than 2m subscribers at the end of 2001. France followed with 664k subscribers.
(GB)