Television Program Preferences 
in Cable Households

In a previous note, we reported that the principal reason that people has cable television service was to be able to receive more channels.  Furthermore, to a lesser degree, they want to be able to get information and entertainment programs from foreign countries that are not usually available on domestic broadcast channels.

In the case of Argentina, the typical cable television systems carries about 75 channels carrying various types of programming.  Here, we ask the question: What television program types do people in cable households watch more than those in non-cable households?  Such television program types are likely to meet two conditions --- (1) they are usually available only (or more often) on cable; and (2) they are preferred by those persons in cable households.

We will report some data taken from the TGI Argentina study.  This is a consumer survey of 6,351 persons between the ages of 12 and 75 in Argentina conducted by IBOPE Argentina during 1999.  In this survey, people are shown a list of television program types and asked about their frequency of viewing to each.  In the table below, we show these television program types sorted by descending order of the index statistic.  The index is calculated as 100 times the percent of people in cable households who watched the television program type frequently, divided by the percent of people in all households who watched the television program type frequently.  An index of 100 means that the cable people watch exactly as much as all households.  An index greater than 100 means that the cable people watch more than all households.  An index less than 100 means that the cable people watch less than all households.

Television Program Type Indices

(source: TGI Argentina, IBOPE Argentina)

The broadcast spectrum can carry only a small number of channels.  The commercial broadcasters are in the profit-making business, and will therefore program to maximize the audience within the broadcast day.  Many of them will not begin broadcasting until the early afternoon, as it is unprofitable to program for a small potential audience in the morning.  During the afternoon, the programs are targeted towards children (e.g. cartoons) and housewives (e.g. telenovelas).  During the evening prime time, the programs are the big-budget fare that attract the most number of people --- telenovelas, recent movies, popular American series and so on.  In the late evening, there are news and commentaries.  On the weekend, sports programs and movies are the most typical offerings.  There is in fact a great deal of similarity in the types of programs offered by the commercial broadcasters during various times of the day.

It is simple physics that a single channel cannot simulcast multiple programs.  If the commercial broadcasters choose the programs that they believe will maximize their audiences (and hence revenues), there is room left for various cable channels to fill in the unmet niche demands.  Of these niches, the most significant ones are

• Erotica --- These programs will not appear on broadcast television given the current social attitudes, so the broadcasters cannot compete in this area.
   
• Home shopping --- These programs do not appear on broadcast television.  This may have to do with some reluctance for the limited broadcast spectrum, which is considered to be a public domain,  to be used by a totally commercial enterprise.
   
• Economy / finance --- The interest in the financial markets is extremely low overall, except for a tiny group of people.  If anything, this is what cable television was designed to serve.
   
• Sports --- The fact that TyC was able to obtain the live broadcast rights to certain soccer games in Argentina was actually highly controversial.  In return for what was considered to be an aggressively high (and possibly ruinous) bid, they were able to turn these games into pay-for-view events.  This meant that soccer fans are cannot see their teams in action, unless they are able and willing to pay for the privilege, something which had been taken for granted hitherto.  Of course, these rights do not cover all soccer games as the major national and international games are considered part of the national heritage.
   
• Information --- Here, we mean documentaries, home improvement, decoration, cooking, travel, tourism, science, technology, health, medicine and other types.  Broadcasters find it difficult to compete in this area for a couple of reasons.  On one hand, whenever they tried to show these types of programs, they get audiences that are smaller than their standard fare (e.g. movies).  On the other hand, the difficulty is in procuring an adequate supply of high-quality informational programs.  They are expensive and time-consuming to produce, which is easier met by companies with global distribution such as Discovery Communications.
   
• Music videos --- While the program costs are low, the audiences tend to be narrowly concentrated among young people.  This means that the overall audience ratings will be low.  If music videos are shown at all, they tend to be during off-hours, such as late night (e.g. past midnight).

(posted by Roland Soong on 3/5/00)

Related Zona Latina pages

• Latin American Cable Systems Channel Lineups A listing of the channels that appear on six major cable systems in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
• Reasons for Multichannel Television Subscription Why do people want to subscribe to multichannel television? 

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