Consumer penetration of advanced video services is starting to approach measurable levels, with 21 percent of 400 customers surveyed in November and December, 2004 saying they take HDTV, digital video recorder or VOD services from their local cable provider. That’s according to the 12th edition of Howard Horowitz ‘s “State of Cable & Broadband” study, released yesterday.

The study found that 14 percent of surveyed consumers subscribe to some form of VOD, SVOD or Free-on-Demand; 8 percent use a DVR or TiVo; and 6 percent take HDTV services.

The DVR numbers are particularly promising, because DVR users watch way more TV. More than a third of the people Horowitz contacted said they watch more shows on cable now than they did before getting a DVR.

The report also shows that people use free-on-demand content to supplement “linear” viewing. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers said they use FOD in addition to watching regular TV, or when they miss an episode they wanted to watch on a linear channel. Still, a fifth (19 percent) said they watch FOD instead of watching linear TV.

“By adding an over-sample of advanced digital households, we can, for the first time, quantitatively measure the impact of more consumer choice and control on traditional TV viewing behavior,” Horowitz said.

The study shows that among all multichannel video customers, 27 percent are digital cable subscribers, and 22 percent are satellite subscribers. Overall digital penetration is at 41 percent, with cable owning a 56 percent market share and satellite a 45 percent share.