A new survey of the HD cable landscape shows that 90 million of the 108 million TV households in the United States are passed by a cable system offering HD programming.
The research conducted by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) indicates strong growth in HD distribution on several fronts, including:
Market penetration: 177 of 210 local television markets can receive HDTV from their cable operator;
Saturation: All of the top 100 DMAs receive HD service from cable providers;
DTV commitment: Cable systems now carry 454 DTV stations, about a 50 percent bump from the 304 carried in December 2003;
Availability: The 90 million U.S. TV households passed by HD cable service represents growth of 28 percent from the December 2003 level.
Programming: Seventeen cable networks deliver some or all of their schedule in HD.
