Multiple-system operator

A multiple-system operator or multi-system operator (MSO) is an operator of multiple cable or direct-broadcast satellite television 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	China	Shandong Cable	25,000,000
2	India	Siti Digital	22,525,000
3	USA	Comcast	22,000,000
4	USA	DirecTV	19,900,000
5	USA	Time Warner Cable	15,000,000
6	USA	Dish Network	14,000,000
7	EMEA	UPC Broadband (9 in Europe)	9,100,000
8	China	Beijing Gehua	9,000,000
9	Germany	Kabel Deutschland	8,900,000
10	China	Shanghai OCN	6,000,000
11	Brazil	NET Serviços de Comunicação	5,381,000
12	USA	Cox Communications	4,838,000
13	UK	Virgin Media	4,772,800
14	USA	Charter Communications	4,413,000
15	France	Numericable	3,500,000
16	Korea, South	CJ Hellovision	3,300,000
17	Japan	J:Com	3,300,000
18	USA	Cablevision Systems Corporation	3,284,000
19	Korea, South	T-Broad	3,200,000
20	Netherlands	Ziggo	3,017,000
21	Korea, South	C&M	2,700,000
22	Belgium	Telenet	2,300,000
23	Germany	Kabel BW	2,300,000
24	Canada	Rogers Cable	2,295,000
25	USA	Bright House Networks	2,139,000
26	Canada	Shaw Communications	2,241,503
27	Spain	ONO	1,823,536
28	Sweden	Com Hem	1,760,000
29	Switzerland	Cablecom	1,670,000
30	Canada	Videotron	1,652,200
31	China	Jinan Cable Network	1,300,000
32	USA	Suddenlink Communications	1,274,000
33	Denmark	YouSee A/S	1,200,000
34	USA	Mediacom Communications Corporation	1,139,000
35	Taiwan	Kbro	1,150,000
36	Taiwan	CNS	1,100,000
37	Canada	Star Choice	886,106
38	Canada	Cogeco	859,090
39	Australia	Austar	742,000
40	Poland	Vectra S.A.	740,000
41	USA	Insight Communications Company	680,000
42	Taiwan	TBC	700,000
43	USA	Cable One	637,000
44	Taiwan	TFN media	550,000
45	India	Den Network	52,300,000
46	India	Digi Cable	32,500,000
47	India	IN Cable	22,500,000
48	India	Hathway Cable	22,500,000
49	India (Mumbia)	J P R Channel	120,000

External links

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