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Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says

2010-04-15 07:34:13

Tue Apr 13, 6:07 pm ET

Make no mistake: The big cable, satellite, and telco carriers are still sitting

pretty with more than 100 million TV subscribers. Nevertheless, a new report

claims that more and more viewers are "cutting the cord" in favor of watching

their favorite shows via over-the-air antennas (remember those?), Netflix, or

the Web.

TechCrunch has the scoop on a new report from the Toronto-based Convergence

Consulting Group, and though the figures may not be a "serious threat" to the

big cable and satellite carriers yet, the trend might eventually spell trouble

for the like of Cablevision, Comcast, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable.

To wit: Nearly 800,000 households in the U.S. have "cut the cord," dumping

their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers (such as AT&T U-verse or Verizon

FiOS) and turning instead to Web-based videos (like Hulu), downloadable shows

(iTunes), by-mail subscription services (Netflix), or even good ol'

over-the-air antennas for their favorite shows, according to the report.

Now, as TechCrunch points out, the estimated 800,000 cord cutters represent

less than 1 percent of the 100 million U.S. households (give or take) currently

subscribing to a cable/satellite/telco TV carrier, so it's not like we're

talking a mass exodus here. But by the end of 2011, the report guesstimates,

the number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. will double to about 1.6

million, and if the trend continues, well...

Even more trouble for the big carriers is the report's assertion that U.S. TV

watchers are getting a taste for online video, with an estimated 17 percent of

the U.S. TV audience watching at least one or two shows online in a given week

last year, up from just 12 percent in 2008, and set to rise to 21 percent this

year.

Personally, I find the temptation to cut the cord pretty enticing, especially

whenever I get a load of my monthly $130 cable bill (which includes unlimited

broadband and HD but no premium channels). Why am I paying so much for all the

hundreds of channels that I rarely ever watch, anyway? Wouldn't it be easier

not to mention a lot cheaper just to ditch my DVR and watch my favorite shows

on iTunes and Hulu, catch up on the news via CNN.com, and be done with it?

There's one important factor that's keeping me from pulling my scissors out:

live sports, and particularly ESPN, my 24-hour sports companion. Sure, as a

football fan, I could keep up with the Jets and the Giants via over-the-air TV

(although I'm not sure my landlord would be all that ecstatic about my

installing a TV antenna on the roof of our Brooklyn brownstone), but without

cable, I'd be left high and dry when it comes to Monday Night Football.

What about you? Anyone out there count themselves as one of the 800,000-plus

cord-cutting households in the U.S.? If not, would you ever consider it, or are

you too attached to basic cable?

Correction: This post originally said that 800,000 U.S. TV households "cut the

cord" in 2009. They didn't all cut the cord in 2009; the number reflects how

many had cut the cord by the end of 2009 a somewhat important distinction.

Apologies for the goof.

TechCrunch: Estimate: 800,000 U.S. Households Abandoned Their TVs For The Web

Convergence Consulting Group: Preview PDFs of "The Battle for the American

Couch Potato" reports

Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.