FCC report notes trends of increased digital technology, consumer demand for video anywhere, anytime

Continued deployment of digital technology and sustained consumer demand for access to video anywhere and anytime are among market trends detailed in a report issued by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday.

The report, the FCC's 15th Report to Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming, also found trends of an increased number of households with access to four multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) as telephone companies extend their video systems, and an increased number of online video providers who are entering the market as well as developing original content.

The report, which covers 2011 and 2012, measures the market's progress toward increasing competition and diversity in multichannel video programming distribution, increasing the availability of satellite delivered programming, and spurring the development of communications technologies.

Specifically, the Commission found that, among other things:

• The number of MVPD subscribers grew from 100.8 million to 101.0 million households between year-end 2010 and June 2012.  During this period, cable's share of MVPD subscribers fell from 59.3 percent of all MVPD video subscribers at the end of 2011 to 55.7 percent at the end of June 2012.
• Between year-end 2010 and June 2012, sattelite MVPDs and telephone MVPDs gained both video subscribers and market share.
• Sattelite MVPDs accounted for 33.1 percent of all MVPD subscribers in 2010, increasing to 33.6 percent at the end of June 2012.
• Telephone MVPDs represented approximately 6.9 percent of all MVPD subscribers in 2010, increasing to an estimated 8.4 percent in 2011.  At the end of June 2012, AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS services combined had 8.6 million video subscribers.
• Since the last report, the number of households relying exclusively on over-the-air broadcast service has remained steady at approximately 11.1 million households, although the percentage of all households they represent increased slightly from 9.6 percent in 2011 to 9.7 percent in 2012.
• While the Online Video Distributors (OVD) industry is still evolving, OVDs continue to expand the amount of video content available to consumers through original programming and new licensing agreements with traditional content creators.  
• Viewing of OVDs' video programming on television sets is becoming increasingly prevalent.  For example, one source, SNL Kagan, estimated by the end of 2012 the number of Internet-connected television households (i.e., accessed via an Internet-enabled game console, OVD set-top box, television set, or Blu-ray player) would have grown to 41.6 million, or 35.4 percent of all television households.

Federal Communications Commission, July 22, 2013