The cable television industry is built on a base of fiber and coaxial cable that can provide broadband access to 93% of U.S. households.  The industry is characterized by:

• Ever increasing demand for higher access speeds, with the 100 Mb/s generation well underway and the 1 Gb/s generation just beginning. Forecast

• Continued investment in network and headend  equipment to keep up with the demand.
• Short asset lives for set top boxes and other customer premises equipment (CPE) due to rapid replacement by new technology offering more features and greater capacity. Forecast
• Potential impacts on revenue and network investment requirements from over the top (OTT) video applications. Forecast
• Functional and economic obsolescence in network/headend equipment and CPE, due to increasing features and capacity of new equipment and falling equipment prices. Forecast
• Longterm need to extend fiber to the last amplifier (or to the home), in order to provide sufficient bandwidth and capacity.
• Competitive environment with satellite and telcos–and potentially wireless providers– that offer competitive services, limiting the ability to increase revenue to match increasing investment requirements.

TFI does not publish industry-wide life recommendations or percent good tables for the cable TV industry generally, but it does provide tables for cable TV companies based on the above factors as they relate to each firm’s specific situation.