More Americans Are Paying for Television By BRIAN STELTER
Tired of costly cable bills, many Americans have talked about "cutting the cord" and relying on the Internet's patchwork of streaming television and movie services. Decoder admits it's a tantalizing proposition. But a new report reminds us that more people than ever are forking over monthly payments for TV.
The so-called "multichannel video market" counted nearly 100 million subscribers at the end of 2009, up three percent from the prior year, the research firm SNL Kagan said Monday.
In a report that was released at a cable trade show in Los Angeles, SNL Kagan said that traditional cable companies had lost market share to satellite and newer telecommunications companies. Regardless, more people are paying for TV: 99.9 million at the end of 2009, up from 97 million at the end of 2008.
The gain can be explained in part by the nation's gradual population growth, but also by the enduring popularity of television in a fragmented media marketplace.
According to SNL Kagan, cable (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, among the companies in the category) lost a total of 500,000 subscribers between 2008 and 2009; satellite (DirecTV, Dish Network) gained 1.4 million; and telecommunications (Verizon, AT&T) gained 2 million. Cable providers still dominate, however, with 62.1 million subscribers, while satellite competitors have 32.7 million and telecommunications companies have only 5.1 million.
Still, hardly a month goes by without an assertion that cord-cutting is on the rise. Last month found that one in eight cable and satellite customers intend to "eliminate or scale back" their service this year, CNNMoney reported.
Perhaps what we're seeing is the gap between how people feel and how they actually behave. There's a history of this in the television industry: it has been well established that Americans underestimate the amount of TV they watch on a given day.
Of course more people are paying for TV. Just look at all the "FTA" boxes that either no longer work or barely work. So they are forced to buy another FTA box and hold their breath...
Streaming aint gonna happen if net is not neutral. If the fagggot comcast, verizon, n GayT&T, win the net neutrality battle, say good bye to the internet. Internet will be like another cable provider with selected and user targeted data. Google net neutrality and you'll be surprised,
"and the providers will regret having done battle with the FTA industry."
What people fail to realize is that the speeds on the internet are increasing dramatically. I started with a 256K speed in 2000 and was till a month ago at 4.2 MBPS. For me now it is 9 MBPS! New technology will make speeds of 16 mbps a reality in about a year. I hear of the whole defense establishment connectivity being revanmped and the old one will be given over to the people and if Obama has his say it will be tightly controlled for pricing.
I can see the satellite TV costs coming to the level of FM radio broiadcast in not too distant a future, unless the big providers cut prices drastically.
You must not forget the enormous volume of amateur and semi-professional created video that will grab the attention of many. Youtube is just the surface of things to come and to watch. Even at the height of N2 availability I know of many TV aficiandoes watching this kind of programming 30-40% of the time. People have finite time and the ease of switching around and the availabilty of wider choice on the internet will make satellite TV redundant enough that the big providers will lose money.
