LRG: 84% of U.S. adults aware of digital transition
Thirty-four percent of all U.S. households are at risk of losing broadcast reception to at least one TV set if they take no action before the digital transition occurs, according to new consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
According to LRG, 14 percent of primary residences nationwide with at least one TV set do not subscribe to cable, satellite, IPTV or any other type of multichannel video service. And 24 percent of households that do subscribe to a multichannel video service have at least one TV set that only receives broadcast programming.
The research found that 84 percent of all adults had heard of the digital transition – nearly double the rate from six months earlier.
Among those who were aware of the digital transition: 30 percent of non-subscribers to a multichannel video service believed that the transition would have no impact on their TVs; 41 percent of cable or satellite subscribers with a broadcast-only TV set thought that it would have no impact on their TVs; and 45 percent of respondents with an annual household income below $30,000 felt they needed to know more about the transition, compared with 28 percent of respondents with incomes between $30,000 and $75,000 and 19 percent of respondents with incomes higher than $75,000.
“General awareness of the digital transition has significantly increased in the past year, but many still need to better understand the implications of the transition,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG. “Even among those who have heard of the transition, a large percentage of at-risk households, namely non-multichannel video subscribers and multichannel video subscribers with broadcast-only TV sets, seem to be oblivious to the potential impact of the transition on the TV sets in their household.”
LRG’s new study, “Cable, DBS & Telcos: Competing for Customers 2008,” is based on a telephone survey of 1,601 randomly selected households throughout the U.S.
Other related findings include:
- The mean annual household income of non-subscribers to a multichannel video service is $44,400 – 32 percent below the sample mean.
- Currently, 12.5 percent of households in areas with cable TV available do not subscribe to a multichannel video service, compared with 14 percent last year and 17 percent in 2004.
- The mean annual household income of cable and satellite subscribers (where cable is available) is 56 percent higher than that of non-subscribers –the largest disparity in the six years that the study has been conducted.
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