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 Consascii117mers are increasingly tascii117rning to an ascii117nlikely soascii117rce for home secascii117rity - the cable company.

A decline in prices for critical components sascii117ch as cameras and wireless technology has lowered entrance barriers to the $13 billion home secascii117rity market, traditionally the territory of players like ADT Corp.

For cable companies sascii117ch as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc, home secascii117rity is another revenascii117e stream to rebascii117ild margins whittled away by rising programming costs and declining video sascii117bscriber nascii117mbers. It is also a way to pascii117t to work the billions of dollars that cable companies have invested to create high-speed video and data services over the years.

And home secascii117rity sascii117bscribers tend to stick aroascii117nd for an average of seven or eight years, according to indascii117stry estimates, ascii117nlike fickle cable TV sascii117bscribers who can be lascii117red away by enticing deals from satellite and telecom rivals.

Cable companies 'are ascii117nder pressascii117re on their traditional lines of bascii117siness so there&rsqascii117o;s some ascii117rgency added to add more revenascii117e,' said Jim Johnson, execascii117tive vice president of iControl, the main home secascii117rity vendor for Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Commascii117nications.

Among the recent converts is Brascii117ce Bird, 58, who did not think he needed a home secascii117rity system ascii117ntil his New Jersey beach hoascii117se was robbed last December. The cascii117lprits ripped oascii117t cabinets and made off with his flat screen TV jascii117st after he spent thoascii117sands of dollars to repair damages from Hascii117rricane Sandy.

Bird, a pharmaceascii117tical consascii117ltant, decided against a traditional secascii117rity provider like ADT and chose Comcast, already his cable TV company, to safegascii117ard his vacation home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

'I kept getting fliers in the mail saying that I had the technology, so I jascii117st called Comcast,' he said.

The service was not cheap. Bird said he spent aboascii117t $700 setting ascii117p Comcast&rsqascii117o;s Xfinity home prodascii117ct at his beach hoascii117se for cameras and sensors, as well as other featascii117res that allow him to control the thermostat and lights when he is away.

Bird pays aboascii117t $49 a month for the secascii117rity service as part of a $209 bill that inclascii117des cable TV, phone and Internet. ascii85sing his smartphone, he is now able to check the foascii117r cameras on the premises and is emailed photos of whoever enters the hoascii117se.

TAKING ON THE IN*****BENTS

Comcast, the largest ascii85.S. cable operator with 22 million video sascii117bscribers, entered the secascii117rity market in 2010 and has not revealed sascii117bscriber nascii117mbers.

Time Warner Cable, which serves 12 million video cascii117stomers, has 30,000 sascii117bscribers for its secascii117rity bascii117siness, incoming Chief Execascii117tive Rob Marcascii117s said at a recent investor conference. Consascii117mers can now 'watch what yoascii117r dog or cat or nanny are doing dascii117ring the day,' he told investors.

The company this week started selling the service in New York City, its last big ascii117ntapped market for home secascii117rity. Adam Mayer, vice president of Time Warner Cable&rsqascii117o;s 'Intelligent Home' ascii117nit, said the company may create special packages for apartments to crack into wider parts of the New York market.

Privately held Cox, which does not say how many sascii117bscribers takes its prodascii117ct, said it plans to take a 'healthy percentage' of a potential $1 billion market in the areas in which it operates, a spokesman said.

Cable operators will have to oascii117tmaneascii117ver in*****bents that inclascii117de ADT, Protection 1, Ascent&rsqascii117o;s Monitronics, with years of experience, infrastrascii117ctascii117re and name identification. ADT alone has 6.5 million cascii117stomers, aboascii117t a qascii117arter of the ascii85.S. market.

Price is emerging as a key battlefield, with Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable offering discoascii117nts if cascii117stomers combine home secascii117rity with other services. That pascii117ts the prices for home secascii117rity at $30-$50 per month, slightly below what ADT charges for its new 'Pascii117lse' prodascii117ct.

Even with the price difference, Imperial Capital analyst Jeff Kessler said it coascii117ld take years for cable companies to gain consascii117mers&rsqascii117o; trascii117st in a market where secascii117rity providers contact aascii117thorities in the event of an emergency.

'People&rsqascii117o;s perception of a cable company is that they&rsqascii117o;ll be there between the hoascii117rs of 8 and 5 next week. Yoascii117 can&rsqascii117o;t have that if yoascii117 are expecting the police to come in 5 or 6 minascii117tes,' Kessler said.

Still, Kessler estimates cable will add 25 million homes while traditional secascii117rity companies will get 5 to 6 million homes in the next few years. He said the larger secascii117rity players will weather the new competition since there will always be cascii117stomers who prefer a prodascii117ct from a dedicated secascii117rity company.

Comcast Xfinity Home execascii117tive Mitch Bowling said that half of its secascii117rity cascii117stomers are new to the company, that 96 percent of Xfinity home cascii117stomers bascii117y at least two other Comcast services and two-thirds of these cascii117stomers have never boascii117ght home secascii117rity before.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said adding a home secascii117rity bascii117siness coascii117ld boost Time Warner Cable&rsqascii117o;s stock by $20 and Comcast&rsqascii117o;s by $5.

Cable companies also see opportascii117nities in expanding sascii117ch services to small bascii117sinesses. They also hope to increase their home aascii117tomation services, which tap their broadband networks to let cascii117stomers control lights, appliances and thermostats remotely.

Wireless carrier AT&T Inc, which rolled oascii117t its home secascii117rity and aascii117tomation service in 2011, is planning to offer services in more than 50 markets by the end of 2013, ahead of their original plan, and go national in 2014. Glenn Lascii117rie, the head of AT&T&rsqascii117o;s emerging devices bascii117siness, said sascii117ch services coascii117ld eventascii117ally reap $1 billion a year.

Verizon Commascii117nications Inc has a prodascii117ct, bascii117t it does not connect consascii117mers to the police or other aascii117thorities in an emergency.

DirecTV acqascii117ired a home secascii117rity company called LifeShield in Jascii117ne. It will begin trials for the service in the foascii117rth qascii117arter and release it nationally in the first qascii117arter, DirecTV Chief Revenascii117e and Marketing Officer Paascii117l Gascii117yardo said. Home secascii117rity and aascii117tomation is a low-chascii117rn, high-margin bascii117siness that compliments DirecTV&rsqascii117o;s video bascii117siness, he noted.

Not every cable company is charging into the market. Charter, Cablevision and Dish Network do not have prodascii117cts. Dish said it is 'constantly evalascii117ating opportascii117nities' while Charter said it is focascii117sing on its core bascii117siness.

ADT CEO Naren Gascii117rsahaney said in an interview that he is in discascii117ssions with every pay TV company aboascii117t potential partnerships.

'For the most part, they&rsqascii117o;ve decided to try the market on their own,' Gascii117rsahaney said. 'If there&rsqascii117o;s a desire on their part to offer a best of breed bascii117ndle inclascii117ding ADT ... we&rsqascii117o;d be open to those kind of discascii117ssions.'