Study: Cord Cutting Continues, 15% Get All TV Via Antenna A new report by Parks and Associates shows that customers slowly, but surely, continue to ditch traditional cable TV. Noting that traditional pay-TV satisfaction has declined in each of the last three years, the firm states that just one-third of pay-TV subscribers are very satisfied with their pay-TV service. When users aren't cutting the cord completely, they're doing everything they can to pare back their traditional bundle. Last year, twice as many subscribers downgraded (12%) their pay-TV service than upgraded (6%) it (aka "cord trimming").

The study also found that the likelihood of non-subscribers adopting pay TV has declined notably since 2012. Only one-half as many Cord Nevers adopted pay TV in 2016 (2%) as in 2015 (4%). Where are users going? In addition to a growing flock of streaming alternatives, many users are increasingly using an antenna to grab content over the air. In fact, the study found that 15% of broadband households now get all of their television content from over the air antenna. "Pay-TV subscriptions have dropped each year since 2014, falling to 81% of U.S. broadband households in Q3 2016,” said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates. “Several factors have played a part in this decline, including growth in the OTT video market, increasing costs for pay-TV services, and consumer awareness of available online alternatives." And Parks notes that things are only going to get harder for traditional cable companies in 2017 as we see a rise in alternative streaming services emerge this year. "With the continued decline of traditional pay-TV subscriptions, 2017 will be characterized by the rise of online pay-TV services,” Sappington said. “While traditional pay TV provides superior viewing quality, OTT video commonly excels in discovery, portability, and personalized user experiences. Consumers care less about the network used to deliver the content than they do about access to the content, ease of use, and convenience." "With the continued decline of traditional pay-TV subscriptions, 2017 will be characterized by the rise of online pay-TV services,” Sappington said. “While traditional pay TV provides superior viewing quality, OTT video commonly excels in discovery, portability, and personalized user experiences. Consumers care less about the network used to deliver the content than they do about access to the content, ease of use, and convenience."







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Most recommended from 68 comments



GlennLouEarl

3 brothers, 1 gone

Premium Member

join:2002-11-17

Richmond, VA 14 recommendations GlennLouEarl Premium Member Price increase after price increase after price increase... ad nauseum. (But will they--content providers and distributors--ever consider price decreases? Heavens to Betsy! What a thought!) Tony0945

join:2015-03-26

Streamwood, IL 12 recommendations Tony0945 Member Maybe it's just WOW that's bad but... When cable goes out completely I switch to OTA. Beautiful picture, no stuttering or pixellating. But then OTA doesn't stuff 20 channels into one traditional channel like WOW. If I can just wean my wife from cable channels, I'd drop cable TV. Our daughter recommended a Roku2 and we bought one, but it's a big mental shift from "what's on now" to "what program do I want to see now" then searching for it on a menu that has 99% junk.

Packeteers

Premium Member

join:2005-06-18

Forest Hills, NY ·Verizon FiOS

·Charter

Asus RT-AC3100

(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

11 recommendations Packeteers Premium Member stream encourages ota-antenna it's ironic how legit streams of local ota channels want so much in carrying fees that streamers and potentially even cabletv/telco's may want you to get your own ota soon, so they don't have to incur the cost of providing those channels particular when the major ota networks themselves want to sell you on-demand episodes directly. ramsaso

Premium Member

join:2014-01-04

Houston, TX ARRIS SB6183

9 recommendations ramsaso Premium Member I can't believe that people actually pay for television service. In all my time living, I had NEVER had to pay for television service in my life.



Even during the analog NTSC era, I had never paid for service nor am I willing to in this day and age where pay television companies fuck with you for every penny they could ooze out of subscribers.



Hell, with all the channel drifting and sped-up content and horrible shows that aren't productive such as the Kardashians (who gives a fuck about some stuck-up family in Los Angeles? It's none of our business), why does one continue to pay for such shit?

CaptainRR

Premium Member

join:2006-04-21

Blue Rock, OH 1 edit 9 recommendations CaptainRR Premium Member OTA That would be me! Shut DirecTV down last week after almost 20 years. No more paying $100 a month for basic standard definition satellite TV. 99% of my TV was off of my antenna due to free HD. rradina

join:2000-08-08

Chesterfield, MO ·Charter

8 recommendations rradina Member Superior Viewing Quality? said by Article : ...Sappington said. “While traditional pay TV provides superior viewing quality, OTT video commonly excels in discovery, portability, and personalized user experiences. Consumers care less about the network used to deliver the content than they do about access to the content, ease of use, and convenience."... My 4K TV's Netflix 4K shows are stunning. Better than anything my cable STBs provide. Donut

join:2005-06-27

Romulus, MI ·Comcast XFINITY

·T-Mobile

ARRIS SB6141

Synology RT2600ac

5 recommendations Donut Member Not a full Cord Cutter We dropped from 5 tvs on cable to 2. The other 3 are OTA. I cant remember the last time I watched cable. The only time I technically watch cable is when I watch Fast N Loud and I do that at Discovery.com. I keep finding channels on OTA that I like. H&I does star trek, so my Sci Fi is covered. ION does Law and Order, Psych, and Burn Notice. Then there is the Create Channel that has cooking shows. So I got the free version of the Food Network.

Economist

The economy, stupid

Premium Member

join:2015-07-10

united state ·AT&T FTTP

4 recommendations Economist Premium Member Wow, I am surprised I certainly get the appeal of OTA but was surprised by the 15% number...seems high. Despite their current profits, linear video providers should be stocking up on Alka-Seltzer about now. I am a lazy couch potato so I think I will be the last sucker still paying for linear programming. The hovering school bus will stop by my house for field trips on how TV used to be. And by then 200 channels of Australian Dick Wrestling and Poker tournies will be $830 a month plus "$57.20 regulatory recovery fee".

Suit Up

join:2003-07-21

Los Angeles, CA Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X

Netgear WNDR3800

4 recommendations Suit Up Member I wish I could get OTA reception I could get Sling Blue for cheaper, but they don't have all the broadcast networks.



I have wondered if I could set up my own Aereo-like system with like a HDHomeRun Extend and a EdgeRouter X (to VPN in to my LAN) in a colocated facility somewhere with reception or something like that. Or alternatively setting up a passive repeater on the top of a nearby mountain and hope that it works and that nobody removes it. I was looking into reducing my cable TV package to the broadcast channels only, and it's gonna be $26.04/month! Just to get channels that are freely available about 10 miles from where I live (where they don't have mountains/hills blocking their line of sight to the transmitter).I could get Sling Blue for cheaper, but they don't have all the broadcast networks.I have wondered if I could set up my own Aereo-like system with like a HDHomeRun Extend and a EdgeRouter X (to VPN in to my LAN) in a colocated facility somewhere with reception or something like that. Or alternatively setting up a passive repeater on the top of a nearby mountain and hope that it works and that nobody removes it. Kiwi

Premium Member

join:2003-05-26

Bryant, AR 2 recommendations Kiwi Premium Member Gone TV Yes, the days of lazy programming and ads as the feature have pissed the older consumer off when adding in unreasonable profits. I past years TV was free, I still recall the way back in the beginning when the old man bought the first B&W TV, there were THREE shows and didn't start until Noon, was done by 6PM. Moving on, for decades prices and content remained reasonable. Something changed with the introduction of DIGITAL TV everything started moving out of orbit, until we have what we do today for traditional TV. Never understood when digital delivery saved a fortune for companies operating in this arena.



Greed became standard, blind greed. Still rotating 30 years of old content between the networks and then throw in ads with an IQ level of 50, expand those ads to represent 118% of content and *gasp* nobody wants it! Add to that the current generation have very little interest in traditional TV -They have cell phones, Youtube et all. So, networks should bite the hand that feeds it, to get it over with. I'll use broadband, PS4 and other alternatives after next week, basic HD for around $105, with nothing to watch killed the golden Goose.



What blows my mind is the number of corporate entities involved in traditional TV that simply don't get it. But nobody will have to hold their breath long, cell phones have been pushed so hard and costs escalating there as well, that the ceiling will be hit in profits within another two years, that traffic will come under fire. The saving grace that provides time is as individualized as a cell phone is, there is a huge component of users that don't actually pay the bill.