I have no plans to change the way I watch TV any time soon, but a lot of other people are at least thinking about it.
The Convergence Consulting Group of Toronto predicts that about 1.6 million U.S. households will “cut the cord,” or cancel monthly cable subscriptions, by the end of 2011, as more content becomes available online.
Time Warner and Comcast recently reported that third-quarter cable subscriber losses more than doubled from a year earlier, though both argued the economy was a bigger factor than cord-cutting.
Research firm Nielsen Co. also says the phenomenon is overstated. At a conference this summer, Howard Shimmel, a senior vice president at the company, said cord- cutting is mainly isolated to young, emerging households that aren’t watching much online programming either.
Nevertheless, media businesses have made strides to stay ahead of the issue, responding by offering on-demand services, digital video recorders and “TV Everywhere” options that allow paying customers to access content over the devices of their choosing.
Dwight recently ran a guest post from a cable cord-cutter. What was fascinating to me was all the comments from people had already done this or who were planning to. A lot of them sounded like too much work in return for the savings, plus a lot of experiences with Comcast that are worse than mine, but to each their own. I didn’t have cable until I was 31. It wasn’t available where we lived when I was a kid, it wasn’t available on the Trinity campus when I was in college, and I was too cheap to spring for it my first few years in Houston. Having finally taken that step, I have no plans to go back. I can see the appeal of just getting the shows you want via the Internet, especially since it’s a lot easier to watch them on a TV now, but for me the value of not having to change my habits outweighs that. My TiVo does what I need it to do, thanks. I know that nothing lasts forever and that sooner or later I’ll be forced to change, but I’m content to wait till that happens. What about you? All Things Digital nd Yglesias have more.a
I haven’t had a home phone for about 10 yrs, I cancelled cable (kept internet only) last year…. I don’t miss it or the bill!
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My family did it, and we don’t miss it at all. With Netflix instant download, MLB TV, Hulu, and an antenae, we have more than enough entertainment. Oh, and library cards are also extremely underrated too. My parents and my brother’s family followed us. They don’t miss it either.