Americans Get 189 Channels on Average, Watch Just 17 In a latest seeming indictment of the bundled channel model the cable and broadcast industry refuses to deviate from, a new study by Nielsen suggests that while American TV viewers pay for (on average) 189.1 TV channels -- they actually watch just 17 of them. "This data is significant in that it substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption," notes Nielsen, who ignores the elephant in the room in regards to bloated channel bundles.

The cable and broadcast industry have long tried to argue the sheer volume of channels creates "value" for the consumer, but with sometimes bi-annual rate hikes for oodles of unwatched content, most consumers would be hard pressed to agree. This is where the cable and broadcast industry will tell you that the 17 channels watched likely differ by subscriber, thereby justifying their broad, bundled offerings. Offer a la carte, they suggest, and the entire TV ecosystem implodes and niche TV channels would die. Except perhaps some should die -- or be driven to online outlets, which is an inevitability for much content over the next decade anyway. Sadly, the most recent push for a la carte TV appears to have ended like the last several have over the last decade. Namely with us continuing to believe the cable and broadcast industry when they proclaim that a la carte TV is the very worst sort of devilry and would completely destroy the current cable and broadcast industry as we know it. Consumers meanwhile, socked repeatedly with rate hikes for low-quality unwatched content, increasingly wonder why that would be a bad thing. Consumers meanwhile, socked repeatedly with rate hikes for low-quality unwatched content, increasingly wonder why that would be a bad thing.







News Jump California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 82 comments

nfotiu

join:2009-01-25 6 recommendations nfotiu Member Missing the point I think there is a major point missed by all the articles like this. 95% of those channels all have carriage fees in the pennies, and then there are about 10 mostly sports channels that have carriage fees in the $2-$8 range.



We're not really paying for 189 channels, we are all stuck paying the 10 expensive channels whether we watch them or not. There is no need at all in unbundling the 170 cheap channels that only rely on advertising for revenue. But we should absolutely have a la carte for any channel trying to charge $6 a month. If ESPN and RSNs want to charge $6/month wholesale, they should be treated exactly the same as HBO, Showtime and Starz.

exocet_cm

Writing

Premium Member

join:2003-03-23

Brooklyn, NY 4 recommendations exocet_cm Premium Member 0 channels on average Ditched cable a long time ago. Too damn expensive. When cable started costing more than my family's groceries I knew it was time to drop it.



We discovered something awesome after dropping cable. We went outside!

ctgreybeard

Old dogs can learn new tricks

Premium Member

join:2001-11-13

Bethel, CT 2 recommendations ctgreybeard Premium Member 17? I think we watch four at the most.