Cable Penetration and Competition among Belgian and Foreign Stations

The effects of programme abundance as a result of cable should be observable in the most densely cabled country in Europe — Belgium — where most viewers have a choice of 11 to 15 channels. Time series data on audience behaviour in the Flemish-speaking part of the country demonstrate the strength of pre-existing patterns of TV utilization, slowness of change, the dominant influence of linguistic barriers and community divisions in channel choice; there is no sudden fragmentation. The implications for programming policy and the future strategy of public service broadcasting in a densely cabled country are discussed.