Multiple system operator

A Multiple System Operator or Multi System Operator (MSO) is an operator of multiple systems. A cable system in the United States, by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) definition, is a facility serving a single community or a distinct governmental entity, each with its own franchise agreement with the cable company. Though in the strictest sense any cable company that serves multiple communities is thus an MSO, the term today is usually reserved for companies that own a large number of cable systems, such as Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications in the US, Rogers Communications, Videotron and Shaw Communications in Canada or Virgin Media in the UK.

Top MSOs Worldwide by Number of Subscribers

Rank	Country	MSO Name	# of Subscribers
1	USA	Comcast Corporation	22,525,000
2	USA	Time Warner Cable	12,235,000
3	EMEA	UPC Broadband (9 in Europe)	9,100,000
4	Germany	Kabel Deutschland	8,900,000
5	USA	Cox Communication	4,838,000
6	USA	Charter Communications	4,413,000
7	UK	Virgin Media	4,772,800
8	China	Beijing Gehua	4,000,000
9	France	Numericable	3,500,000
10	Japan	J:Com	3,300,000
11	USA	Cablevision Systems Corporation	3,284,000
12	Belgium	Telenet	2,300,000
13	Germany	Kabel BW	2,300,000
14	Canada	Rogers	2,295,000
15	USA	Bright House Networks	2,139,000
16	Canada	Shaw	2,241,503
17	Spain	ONO	1,823,536
18	Sweden	Com Hem	1,760,000
19	Switzerland	Cablecom	1,670,000
20	Canada	Videotron	1,652,200
21	Netherlands	Ziggo	1,600,000
22	China	Jinan Cable Network	1,300,000
23	USA	Suddenlink Communications	1,274,000
24	USA	Mediacom Communications Corporation	1,139,000
25	Taiwan	Kbro	1,150,000
26	Taiwan	CNS	1,100,000
27	Canada	Star Choice	886,106
28	Canada	Cogeco	859,090
29	Australia	Austar	742,000
30	Poland	Vectra S.A.	740,000
31	USA	Insight Communications Company	680,000
32	Taiwan	TBC	700,000
33	USA	CableOne	637,000
34	Taiwan	TFN media	550,000
35	Poland	Multimedia Polska S.A.	506,000
36	Cyprus	Cablenet Communications	25,000

External links

http://www.ncta.com/Stats/TopMSOs.aspx - National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Top 25 MSOs as of June, 2011