Cable RGUs predicted to grow as cable homes decline

The number of cable revenue-generating units will grow to almost double the number of cable homes in the EU 27 states by 2017, according to research by IHS Screen Digest.

Speaking at the PEVE Entertainment conference yesterday, IHS research director for television Guy Bisson said that although cable operators had lost 1.4 million homes over the last five years, they have gained 17.8 million more RGUs.

IHS Screen Digest expects the number of cable RGUs to grow to 116.08 million by 2017, up from 106.44 million in 2012, while the number of cable homes will decline from 64.98 million to 64.25 million over the same period.

Bisson said that cable operators would have to offer a growing range of services to grow their RGU base, including mobile telephony, WiFi access outside the home and multiscreen services, and stave of TV competition from OTT providers. He said pay TV operators would increasingly invest in their own CDN infrastructure to offer multiscreen content. He added that “strategic acquisitions at this point are very, very important.”