M+E Daily
Will Cord Cutting Go Mainstream in 2012?
Story Highlights
Cord-cutting may not have reached worst-nightmare proportions for pay-TV providers in 2011. But one in five Americans has either already cut their pay-TV service, or is exploring cutting their service in the months ahead, according to findings of a new Deloitte survey.
Deloitte found that 9 percent of consumers have already cut the cord, while 11 percent are considering doing so “because they can watch almost all of their favorite shows online.” An additional 15 percent of respondents say that they will most likely watch movies, television programs, and videos from online digital sources (via download or streamed over the Internet) in the near future.
Consumer perceptions notwithstanding, the online offering of TV shows (at least from legitimate sources) has not yet reached parity with pay TV services. Some pay-TV networks, such as TNT and TBS, require viewers to log in with account details in order to access new episodes of top shows.
Meanwhile, Leichtman Research Group, which tracks takeup of cable, satellite, and broadband Internet services in the U.S., deems cord-cutting to be “the phenomenon that still isn’t.” In fact, Leichtman says, the top 14 multi-channel video providers (cable, satellite, and telco services combined) did not cumulatively lose any subscribers in 2011; instead, the industry gained some 240,000 customers.
Still, the research firm notes, the growth has slowed dramatically over the prior year, when the industry added 780,000 video subscribers.
