Cable, IPTV Recession Resistant, Says Report

DALLAS: U.S. consumers are showing a reluctance to cancel their pay-TV subscriptions amid the recession, according to a Parks Associates report, which predicts that the growth of cable and IPTV VOD services will remain "strong," delivering revenues of more than $11 billion by 2013.

"Currently 37 percent of U.S. digital cable customers use premium VOD regularly, up from 21 percent in late 2004," said Kurt Scherf, the VP and principal analyst at Parks Associates. "The cable companies need to use this type of service to combat challenges from telco/IPTV services, which grew over 110 percent in subscriptions from 2007 to 2008."

Parks Associates recently put out a report noting that the number of people subscribing to TV services worldwide will top 1.4 billion by 2013, with prime-time catch-up services seen as key for platforms in gaining and retaining customers.