NCTA is Bullish on Cable's Future

As of 31-March-2003, cable operators were serving more than 20 million digital cable, 12 million high-speed Internet, and 2.5 million cable telephone customers, said Robert Sachs, President & CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), speaking at the opening of this week's "National" cable show in Chicago. HDTV is another leading indicator of the cable market, with some level of HDTV programming now available in 78 of the top 100 Designated Market Areas (DMAs) in the US. About 5% of US households currently own a television set capable of displaying signals in high definition. In the wake of the FCC's recent action to loosen media ownership rules, Sachs noted that regulatory issues continue to be a primary concern for cable operators. In particular, he questioned mandatory carriage requirements that would force cable operators to carry as many as six digital channels for each of the local broadcast stations in markets they serve.
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