Cord-Cutting Explodes: 22 Million U.S. Adults Will Have Canceled Cable, Satellite TV by End of 2017

Variety ^ | September 13, 2017 | Todd Spangler

[EdnaMode]

Research firm eMarketer cuts TV ad-spending forecast on accelerating pay-TV declines

Winter is here for cable and satellite TV operators.

American consumers are cancelling traditional pay-TV service at a much faster rate than previously expected, according to research firm eMarketer.

In 2017, a total of 22.2 million U.S. adults will have cut the cord on cable, satellite or telco TV service to date — up 33% from 16.7 million in 2016 — the researcher now predicts. That’s significantly higher than eMarketer’s prior estimate of 15.4 million cord-cutters as of the end of this year. Meanwhile, the number of “cord-nevers” (consumers who have never subscribed to pay TV) will rise 5.8% this year, to 34.4 million.

"Younger audiences continue to switch to either exclusively watching [over-the-top] video or watching them in combination with free-TV options,” said Chris Bendtsen, senior forecasting analyst at eMarketer. “Last year, even the Olympics and [the U.S.] presidential election could not prevent younger audiences from abandoning pay TV.”

Overall, 196.3 million U.S. adults will have traditional pay TV (cable, satellite or telco) this year, down 2.4% compared with 2016, eMarketer predicts. By 2021, that will drop to 181.7 million, a decline of nearly 10% from 2016. The number of pay-TV viewers 55 and older will continue to rise over the next four years, while for every other age cohort the subscriber tallies will decline.

By 2021, the number of cord-cutters will nearly equal the number of people who have never had pay TV — a total of 81 million U.S. adults. That means around 30% of American adults won’t have traditional pay TV at that point, per eMarketer’s revised forecast.

[TomGuy]

How does the cable company respond? By raising rates on the existing customers.

==

The problem for many of us is that, in somewhat rural areas, there are few alternatives.

I can pick up only 2 or 3 OTA stations with an indoor antenna. An outdoor antenna is out of the question, as I live in an apartment complex.

Online streaming still has problems. And in order to get local cable internet, they require the basic cable tier that is around $30/month. DSL? The phone company requires a landline (bundle) to get DSL. That landline adds about $30/month.

[kabar]

Streaming video is the reason. Roku, Apple TV, etc. will continue to grow and the suppliers of content will adopt a smorgasbord approach to allow viewers to select what they want and don’t want.

[Ol' Sox]

I pulled the plug on cable in 2012 when I felt that streaming was stable enough and I could get a higher speed internet service to the house...and after I threw a shoe at the tv during an Obama speech. Began with Netflix, which was an easy transition as we already subscribed to their CD subscription service. Followed with Hulu and Amazon Prime as they became viable, and bought a Chromecast on the day they became available at Best Buy.

I think the collective blood pressure readings in the house dropped, our kids remained informed of world events, but through more conservative venues. After a brief period of adjustment, we became accustomed to selecting movies and shows of our choosing rather than "whatever was on". We found that the ability to binge a tv series to be far more enjoyable than waiting a week or two between episodes - you don't forget the plot subtleties, and the show is presented at a time of your own choosing rather than when the network deems (we never did have a TIVO).

Altogether, a far more enjoyable, economical and controllable method for bringing media into the home.

[kabar]

Try ROKU.

[notaliberal]

A Roku Ultra was delivered to my house the other day. I haven’t had the cajones to open it yet. I have a few days left on Directv before making another monthly. I called Directv and told them to shut it down.

[x1stcav]

I, too, was paying Century Link $70/mo. but I called and beat them up for more speed and got them down to $42/mo.

[notaliberal]

Can you give me some info on the conservative venues, please!

[Cold Heart]

We have Dish with a million unwanted channels. We added Amazon Prime and now have two million unwanted channels.

[Ol' Sox]

LOL - you are on one! Sorry - my use of the word “venue” might have been interpreted as “broadcast venue”. I meant that the kids got the news from internet based sources such as Townhall, FR, Drudge, American Spectator, etc. rather than the newspapers and tv news broadcasts.

[bgill]

We can’t get any OTA stations even with antennas. The stations greatly reduced their power about 30 years ago so we had to go to cable. Internet is constantly going off and if one computer is playing a game that uses the internet, you might as well give up on turning on a second computer.

We were given Netflix one Christmas but it’s a waste of time. First, it’s constantly freezing. Second, it’s garbage. Hundreds of shows and nothing decent to watch.

So, it’s cable. Hundreds of channels and nothing to watch.

[Buttons12]

I’ve never had cable. My parents got rid of the tv around the time I arrived. Not taking any credit though — that goes either to Windows 98 or the OJ trial.
I enjoy lots of vintage tv, but it’s free on youtube.

[semantic]

Nope, going the other way. We have Spectrum (formerly Time-Warner). They just upgraded all customers in our area to 100mbps - from 50mbps - free of charge. That is, we’re pay $65/mo for twice as much throughput.

[Aria]

Foor how long?

[datricker]

First republican debate the blood coming out of her whatever one caused me to cut the cord. rough calculation is that president Trump has saved me near 3000 doll hairs since September 2015. I guess I still pay then for the internet so probably closer to $2000. Still better than any other pol

[faucetman]

I don’t get TV at all without satellite. I LOVE TV.

BUT...... having said that, I must admit I’m watching it less and less.

Besides all the technical problems that Direct TV can’t or won’t address, there are fewer and fewer things to watch.

My program manager used to always be full (50 program series) to record. Now there are only a few. Most of those are in off season half the time.

Blatant HOMO sex scenes gets your program banned by me. I don’t care how good the rest of the show is.

Banning the NFL for unpatriotic actions. “Love it or leave it” is back in vogue.

Actors and entertainers voicing their pathetic liberal views in public makes it less likely that I will watch them “perform”.

I almost (HOW COULD I) forgot FAKE NEWS. I used to religiously watch Fox News. Now, I NEVER watch Faux News. Not Tucker, not Hannity.

At some point, it just isn’t going to be worth the money. It already isn’t worth the money, but to totally cut the cord is hard.

[Aria]

FOR....not foor... :-)

[V K Lee]

Who would wish to see today’s ‘entertainment’? Leftist propaganda, violence, witchcraft. Much LESS actually pay for it?

KODI, ROKU, even the web offers much more entertainment free of nonsense and political views.

RETRO/CLASSIC TV SHOWS:
RERUN CENTURY
http://www.reruncentury.com/ia/

Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/feature_films

For more info start here and do some exploring.
http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/sightsandsounds/index.aspx?id=5561

https://archive.org/details/movies

http://www.solie.org/ClassicTV/

https://archive.org/details/TheVideoCellarCollection&tab=about

http://www.classicmoviesez.com/ClassicMoviesHome.asp?MENU=HM

[semantic]

Your experience mirrors our own, except our net access was bundled with cable. So, even though we were only watching streaming on-demand, the uniform bill was paid without much thought othere than a little grumbling and empty self-question of "why are we still paying for this"?

Finally, around 6 mos ago I resolved to finally deal with the issue. Brewed myself a jug of coffee, got the phone on speaker, and spent the next hour or so being shuttled around until someone, somewhere (maybe India) admitted that we could unbundle the charge.

At that point, I had them cancel our cable and re-up the net from 30 to 50mbps. However, while we had our own wifi router, we were still leasing the original cable modem. Another jug of coffee, another round of telephone tee tag, and I finally got them to take off the modem lease. (After I had purchased my own.)

But, the story gets even better. When I went to the Spectrum service center to return the modem, the rep brought up our account and mentioned he could upgrade us to 100mbps under our existing plan. Wow, my first "win" after all the cord cutting rigamarole.

So now, here we sit with 100mbps, our own high volume modem/wifi, 1 TV and 2 computers. All for $65/mo. And, since we have the new Vizio, it has built in Roku, etc, so no need for extra devices. Our mantle is clean as a whistle.

Since we buy a sh!t ton of stuff via AMZ prime, we have their streaming service for free. HBO and other providers can be subscribed to on/off via AMZ with a flick of the remote.

The bottom line is that cable/satellite are dead, dead, dead.

[Grampa Dave]

We did it in June after getting the second $25 this year from Comcast/Xfinity.

Now, we use Comcast Business with a faster and more reliable internet and 2 phone lines for $25 month for a total of $105.

We use Sling’s second tier to get the Giant’s games and originally to add the local ABC channel so my wife could watch Kelly and whoever in the morning. My wife doesn’t watch Kelly and whomever any more as it is a constant parade of Follywood creeps, homosexuals, broadway creeps and CNN creeps. So we will be dropping Sling and ABC after the Giants fade into the setting sun this year.

Most of our tv watching is via Amazon Prime, plus $5/month for CBS live and basically every program CBS has ever had. $5/month for Acorn to get tons of Brit series. $5/month for their concert series and an extra $5/month donation to PBS to get what’s new and a lot of great old shows.

We may opt for the new upcoming No Jock/Sport internet streaming choices for $20 per month.

$crew the NFL/ESPN and old Jocks and screeching females announcers, who often know zilch about the sport they are screeching about.

[BuffaloJack]

I bought my first Roku media player in the fall 2008. I kept the cable for about 2 months after and used both, then in December 2008, we turned in our set top boxes and cancelled everything but the internet connection.
Best decision ever.