A long article today in Multichannel News that would be interesting for folks more interested in the reach of cable networks, as opposed to the viewership and ratings we usually feature.
More than two dozen cable networks will hit a major — some might say meaningless — milestone before the end of the year: 100 million subscribers.
Research firm SNL Kagan projects that by year-end 2009, 20 national networks, including TBS, The Weather Channel, Discovery and Nickelodeon, each will have amassed more than 100 million cable, satellite and telco TV subscribers, down as far as VH1. Comedy Central, a sibling within Viacom’s MTV Networks, will be just 300,000 short of 100 million when 2009 wraps up.
In all, 24 networks (down to Cox Communications-owned Travel Channel) will have more than 99 million subscribers each at years end.
THE ROAD TO 100 MILLION
Milestones for the fully distributed basic-cable networks:
| Network | Launch Date | Year to Pass 50 Mil. Subs | Est. YE Subs 2009Y |
| SOURCE: SNL Kagan | |||
| TBS | 1976 | *1989 | 101.9 |
| The Weather Channel | 1982 | 1991 | 101.7 |
| Discovery Channel | 1985 | 1990 | 101.5 |
| Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite | 1979 | 1990 | 101.4 |
| USA | 1980 | *1989 | 101.2 |
| TNT | 1988 | 1990 | 101.1 |
| CNN/HLN | 1980 | *1989 | 101.0 |
| Food Network | 1993 | 2000 | 101.0 |
| Lifetime | 1984 | 1990 | 100.9 |
| TLC | 1980 | 1996 | 100.9 |
| HGTV | 1994 | 1999 | 100.9 |
| Spike TV | 1983 | 1990 | 100.8 |
| ESPN/ESPN HD | 1979 | *1989 | 100.7 |
| Cartoon Network | 1992 | 1998 | 100.6 |
| Disney Channel | 1983 | 1999 | 100.5 |
| MTV | 1981 | 1990 | 100.4 |
| CNBC | 1989 | 1993 | 100.3 |
| History | 1995 | 1998 | 100.3 |
| A&E Network | 1984 | 1991 | 100.1 |
| VH1 | 1985 | 1995 | 100.0 |
| Comedy Central | 1989 | 1998 | 99.7 |
| ESPN2 | 1993 | 1997 | 99.4 |
| ABC Family Channel | 1977 | 1990 | 99.1 |
| Travel Channel | 1987 | 2001 | 99.1 |
| C-SPAN | 1979 | 1994 | 98.6 |
| Animal Planet | 1996 | 1999 | 98.4 |
| Fox News Channel | 1996 | 2000 | 98.4 |
| TV Land | 1996 | 2000 | 98.4 |
| TruTV | 1991 | 2000 | 98.3 |
| FX | 1994 | 2000 | 98.2 |
| Sci Fi Channel (Syfy) | 1992 | 1998 | 98.0 |
| E! | 1987 | 1998 | 97.3 |
| AMC | 1984 | 1994 | 96.0 |
| MSNBC | 1996 | 1999 | 95.9 |
| Bravo | 1980 | 2000 | 93.0 |
| Fox Sports Net | 1996 | 1997 | 91.4 |
| CMT | 1983 | 2001 | 91.4 |
| BET | 1980 | 1997 | 90.0 |
NETS ON THE VERGE
Services with more than 98 million subscribers:
| SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research data, May 2009 | |
| TBS | 99,228,000 |
| CNN/HLN | 99,088,000 |
| Weather | 99,029,000 |
| Discovery | 98,796,000 |
| Nick | 98,574,000 |
| USA | 98,429,000 |
| TNT | 98,268,000 |
| ESPN | 98,140,000 |
| Food | 98,087,000 |
| A&E | 98,005,000 |
| TLC | 98,003,000 |
lots more to read at Multichannel News.
Who are these cable companies that are offering service without EPSN? Is that the basic lifeline service?
And if subscriber bases are growing like this even in a recession, then I guess all the talk of people cutting the cable and doing HD over the air, Hulu, and NetFlix are few and far between.
Considering the fact that every one of those channels is offered as Expanded Basic Cable in our small city it is not surprising. That means that anyone who gets Expanded and Digital cable receives these cable nets here. I would imagine it is a similar story all over the country.
If we got to pick and choose which networks to receive would all of those be so popular? I’m not so sure. For our household USA, Comedy Central, MSNBC, TNT, Nick, TCM (not on list)and History are the only ones we watch (in order of viewing) consistently. With our local stations which we can get by antenna in HD, I could reduce my paid selections to those cable networks and be happy. We only occasionally watch the others if we happen to read about something we would like to watch or notice it when we surf.
It’s fun to compare notes with dedicated cable fans on which ten of the fifty above are necessities, etc. The truth is, household cable penetration has stayed flat ( not decreased ) during every recession so far. It will probably hold at 70-75% of households. Which means for all the grumbling and complaining, the present system offers just enough variety or even “wallpaper” to keep customers from voting with their dollars – that is, cancelling. ( I’d much rather have cable than my dish, but the cable company diidn’t figure it was cost-effective to lay a line for one household, and I’m sure they would have helped me out if they could.)Like a slow but not too slow ISP or Windows 20000 or whatever, the pain threshhold has got to be pretty high to motivate change for most people. ( An annoying but basically loved spouse is I guess an even better eg.)
My cable is missing many of those channels. Ones I don’t have include:
Weather
Nick
TNT
Food
HGTV
Spike
ESPN
Disney
MTV
FX
Comedy Central and Cartoon Network are the only channels I care about, but it would be nice to have some more variety. And Spongebob.
i think i get all of those channels with basic cable
comcast in tucson/marana is great
i think the only channels on that list that my family and i dont watch are
CMT
TruTV
and C-SPAN
Ah! but TruTV has started running a show called Man Vs Cartoon in which a group of engineers try to recreate Wile E. Coyote’s gadgets to see if they could work in the real world. It’s Mythbusters applied to cartoon logic. It has NOTHING to do with TruTV’s normal programming, but it’s great fun.
Just like Travel Channel – I don’t watch most of their programming, but an occasional Anthony Bourdain is fine and Man Vs Food is a really fun show.
That’s the biggest problem with cable today. It’s not 900 channels and nothing on — it’s 900 channels and which one is the interesting programming on. I love niche programming, so I know where to look for certain program types. Who’d look on TruTV for a Discovery/TLC type show like Man Vs Cartoon. How does one even find out that it’s on (an online blurb on a blog told us about it).