 |
Professional Canadian Web Hosting |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Start your own family, non-profit, blog or small business website today! - Check out our Web Hosting
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
| New Evidence Suggests Serious Revenue Loss from Cable TV Signal Theft |
| Posted
on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 09:26 AM |
Widespread theft of TV signals costs Canadian
cable companies over $400 million each year in lost revenues a recent study has revealed. This represents a significant loss in revenue for the entire Canadian TV production, programming and distribution industry.
"The numbers are consistent with findings in the U.S. cable industry," said Timothy McGee, President of Bell ExpressVu, Canada's leading satellite TV service. "This study directly contradicts the assertion by cable companies and their industry association that signal theft is only a satellite problem. Clearly, that's not the case."
The study - an Analysis and Estimate of Annual Lost Revenue Due to Theft of Service in the Canadian Cable Television Industry - conducted on behalf of Bell ExpressVu by Pathlink Engineering, found that of the 8.1 million Canadian households with cable television service, 4% of single family homes and 10% of the multiple family units steal cable services. Against these percentages,
Pathlink estimates an annual loss of $290 million.
Added to that figure are losses of about $128 million annually through incorrect trap filtering and the theft of analogue premium television services. Trap filters are used by cable companies to block analogue premium entertainment channels from being available in the homes of subscribers who
have not paid for the specialty channels.
"Pathlink performed a detailed analysis of the various methods of cable signal theft and then modeled the value of stolen services for each method," explained Ralph von Eppinghoven, Principal Engineer, Pathlink Engineering.
Mr. McGee said the substantial level of cable signal theft has been obscured by the media campaign the cable industry has waged to try to prove that signal theft is solely a satellite problem.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Mr. McGee said. "Satellite signal theft surfaced as an issue for the cable companies when it became clear that satellite was a viable, competitive alternative that offered value and choice."
Since their introduction in 1997, Canadian satellite TV services have provided tremendous choice for Canadian consumers in both rural and urban areas helping to achieve the regulator's goal for a competitive broadcast environment. Today, after just over five years, satellite TV serves more than two million Canadian homes.
The Pathlink study confirms that Canada has a similar problem to that of the United States where the official cable industry group, the National Cable Telecommunications Association (NCTA), estimates that theft of service nationwide costs cable companies US$6.58 billion a year - roughly equivalent to 11.5% of the industry's subscriber base.
The Pathlink study supports previous opinion research performed by Pollara Research for Bell ExpressVu in late November of this year which found that Canadians show significant levels of awareness and first hand knowledge of cable TV signal theft. Those levels of awareness and knowledge are comparable to levels involving satellite signal theft.
The report and the public opinion research suggest that, by insisting the problem lies primarily with satellite services, the cable industry is not addressing what appears to be a significant issue within its own systems.
The CRTC has been investigating the issue of signal theft involving all Canadian distributors. Bell ExpressVu has sent both the Pathlink report and the Pollara survey to the CRTC in order to inform the discussion in light of the cable industry's persistent and self-interested allegations.
Copies of the Pathlink Report and backgrounders are available online at:
http://www.bell.ca/satreleases
http://files.newswire.ca/264/bell_back_eng.doc (Word Document)
|
|
DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE
Print Version
8269
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Printer Friendly Page | Register | Log-in 
