This year, Satellite TV, which recently celebrated their 15 year anniversary, passed 18 million pay-TV subscribers. Comcast remains the nation's No. 1 pay-TV company with 24.1 million subscribers, but Satellite TV is narrowing the gap quickly. Satellite TV's subscriber base is approaching 20 million, with a core of sports fans committed to Satellite TV because of their exclusive rights to the Sunday Ticket package for of out-of-market NFL games. Satellite TV has conquered the customer-service rankings, consistently topping the list in the cable-satellite sector, and has raised the stakes with it's launching of 4 different satellites for HD channels. In the first quarter, Satellite TV added 460,000 new TV subscribers. It's the best quarterly gain in four years, while Comcast lost 78,000 TV subscribers. Marci Ryvicker, an analyst with Wachovia Securities L.L.C., predicted that Satellite TV's subscriber base will exceed Comcast's by 2014 as Satellite TV expands and Comcast shrinks. She said she believed Satellite TV was the superior service. "They have a focus on a core product, and they don't have distractions," Ryvicker said. Comcast also is the nation's largest provider of residential high-speed Internet and third-largest phone company. It competes with Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. for the triple-play bundle of phone, Internet, and TV. In order to compete with cable, Satellite TV has advertised heavily with billboards, radio spots, and newspaper inserts. In particular, they have gone after Charter Communications Inc., one of the nation's largest cable companies, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. One Satellite TV newspater insert read: "Charter Cable Filed for Bankruptcy! We'll Save the Day." Over the next few years, Satellite TV will expand into more single-family homes and has developed a service aimed at apartment buildings. A recent federal court ruling that canceled exclusive contracts between apartment owners and cable companies could help Satellite TV in the long run. Those customers who are already subscribed to Satellite TV are enjoying the benefits it has to offer! By: Frank Bilotta
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