Americans cutting the cable TV cord at increasing pace


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Joseph O'Halloran

| 10 December 2015




A fifth of US households will not subscribe to cable or satellite TV by 2018 according to eMarketer’s first forecast for the pay-TV market.



RTVN 10 Dec Americans cutting the cable TV cord at increasing paceThe survey found that a growing percentage of American households are cutting the cable TV cord each year, and predicts that by 2015 4.9 million US households will unsubscribe from traditional pay-TV services. This would represent an increase of 10.9% over the previous year.

eMarketer expects the growth to accelerate in the coming years, with the number of incremental cord-cutting households jumping another 12.5% in 2016. It believes that that by the end of 2016, the number of US households subscribing to cable and satellite will drop below 100 million.

Cable and satellite providers are projected to steadily lose customers through 2019. The number of US households subscribing to cable TV will likely drop 0.4% by the end of 2015, while the number of US households subscribing to satellite TV will drop 1.5%. Conversely, more American households will likely subscribe to IPTV packages provided by telecom providers such as Verizon and AT&T. That segment will jump 1.8% this year.

“This year, the number of digital video services expanded at a faster pace than ever before,” commented eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna. “In addition to standalone offerings from the likes of HBO, there are new digital bundles that include many of the channels consumers could only have received with cable and satellite subscriptions in the past. This widespread availability of digital content makes cord-cutting a viable option for a growing segment of the viewing population. Telecom companies have done better than cable or satellite providers in selling bundles that include high-speed Internet connectivity, phone service and TV.”

The share of so-called cord-nevers, those who have never subscribed to cable or satellite was found to be growing as well. eMarketer forecasts that the percentage of US adults who have never subscribed to cable or satellite TV will reach 12.9% and will grow to 13.8% by 2016.