Montreal: A recent Canadian Cable Television Association report says 5.3 million or 68% of all basic cable subscribers in Canada are presently digitally capable. The study says the number will rise to 6.2 million or 79% of subscribers by September 2001. The same report says the actual hook-up rate in homes (digital-terminal installations) is much lower, with high/low projections through to September 2001 at more than one million and as little as 486,486.

Canadian dth subscribers with either Bell ExpressVu or Star Choice currently number approximately 700,000, all of which are digital-ready.

Combined, Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice are projecting 1.8 million subscribers (plus or minus 20%) by December of this year, 85% being English homes. The dth projection edges up to 2.1 million by the end of 2002.