first and most readily adopted by the lower income households. The most expensive 'gold' or 'diamond' packages, which usually include all other channels plus a premium film channel is acquired by less than a quarter of households which amounts to 23% in the United Kingdom. An even smaller proportion of households subscribe to pay per view channels. the United States, these special channels for newly released feature films and major sporting events are subscribed to by only 13% of all of cable viewers.
In Hong Kong, BAH acknowledges the results of the market surveys that show that there is a real interest in cable television. These studies have shown that :
"respondents have a generally passive attitude toward current programming"
"that the quality of programmes is getting worse"
"most respondents expect to pay a price of HK$30-50 for basic channels, HK$20-30 for each premium channel and HK$30-60 for each pay-as-you-view event. On the whole they consider subscription worthwhile if the total monthly expenses do not exceed HK$150 for all types of channels."
However on the side of caution BAH notes that :
"respondents are already too busy to watch all that is currently provided"
"Cinema going is a social activity to meet friends and relax after work."[1]
In
Clearly while the demand for premium and movie viewing may be high with consumers willing to pay HK$50-150 per month, there is a price ceiling beyond which cable television would simply lose subscribers. BAH's revenue forecasts for cable television are lower than CTHK's due to taking account of the inevitable difficulties of programme production and acquisition in the start up years when budgets are tightly constrained by a small subscriber base and limited revenue flows.
The BAH model assumes a programme package price as follows:
Package components
Total package price
HK$/month
Basic service
HK$/month
120
48
72
120
168
240
1.
Enhance service
Premium
Feasibility Study on Cable Television in Hong Kong, Stage 1 Qualitative Research, AGB McNair Hongkong Ltd, September 1985.
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