IMS Research: 20% CAGR growth in U.S. IPTV through 2015, cord cutting not a major worry for MSOs

New research forecasts 20.1 percent compounded average annual growth for IPTV homes in the U.S., as well as an increase of 7.8 million digital cable TV subscribers in the U.S. through 2015. The forecasts, from IMS Research, also include a CAGR for satellite pay-TV of 2.5 percent.

Analyst Anna Maxbauer said recent subscriber losses experienced by U.S. cable operators are likely due to a "permanent change among consumers" and that MSOs won't "recover their pre-recession market share without a serious change to their offerings and prices."

"The economic downtown continues to challenge consumers' commitment to expensive services," she said, dismissing cord cutting and OTT delivery as secondary.

IMS Research Anna Hunt, meanwhile, suggested consumers dropping their pay-TV service may not be that important to MSOs.

"Consumers dropping their pay-TV service aren't necessarily high-value cable customers," she said. "Many are likely basic customers looking for a lower-cost or free video entertainment option. Cable companies are seeing continual growth in services such as HD and DVR, and increasing on-demand consumption; video revenues are continuing to grow."

She said that as a response to growth in OTT offerings, pay-TV operators are aggressively expanding their own on-demand portfolios, and incorporating OTT strategies with online content delivery, catch-up TV services, and support for portable devices, such as Time Warner Cable's (NYSE:TWC) TV app for the iPad."

For more:
- see this release

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