WASHINGTON DC, March 27, 2007 - Satnews Daily - Expenses for satellite or cable television, cellphone services and the Internet now count among the top four monthly expenses in U.S. homes.
Results from a survey by Pew Research Center found that households cited these three services as their most common monthly expenditures. Housing rounds out the top four.
Fifth were credit card payments.
The results follow another released last week by the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), which showed that both satellite and cable TV are in 86 percent of U.S. households. The report also said that satellite TV controls 29 percent of the pay TV market in the USA.
Leading satellite TV firms DirecTV and EchoStar together have nearly 30 percent of the pay TV audience. Their market share has risen some 200 percent in the last seven years. It also showed that cable TV's audience share of the pay market dropped from 89 percent to 71 percent since 2000.
TVB said the satellite TV industry had 29 percent of the pay market in February 2007 compared to just 9.5 percent in February 2000. TVB says DTH services are now in 25 percent of all TV households, including homes that do not subscribe to either cable or satellite. Cable was in 61 percent of all homes.
The Pew report also found that higher-income adults tended to use credit cards for their convenience and reward programs. Lower-income respondents were more likely to use them for unexpected expenses or as a supplement when money ran low. Of those who paid their bills, 28 percent said they are more likely to make online or electronic payments. Another 15 percent said they pay with cash.
