Americans increasingly disconnecting from pay-TV services


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Joseph O'Halloran

| 23 December 2015




Despite rising costs, having broadband is seen in the US as a modern-day life essential; cable and satellite TV are increasingly seen as not having such importance, the Pew Research Centre has revealed.



RTVN 23 Dec Pew In a comprehensive look at the US home broadband arena in 2015, the research foundation found that adoption seems to have plateaued at two-thirds of Americans, down slightly from 70% in 2013. This, Pew says, represents a small but statistically significant difference which could be a blip or a more prolonged reality. This change moves home broadband adoption to where it was in 2012.

What makes this more profound is that the research also revealed that both broadband users and those who do not have broadband are increasingly likely to view home broadband as a key tool for accessing information that is important to their lives.

The report cites the monthly cost of service as the most important reason for not having a home broadband subscription. This was a likely causal factor in the finding that 15% of American adults report they have become cord-cutters, abandoning paid cable or satellite television service. Many of these cord-cutters say that the availability of televised content from the Internet and other sources is a factor in their move away from subscription television services. A further 9% never had either cable or satellite service.

In the Home Broadband 2015 report, Pew discovered young adults were the most likely cord-cutters. It found that almost a fifth of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 have dropped cable or satellite service, while another 16% of young adults say they have never had pay-TV in the first place.

Affordability is a main driver for those without cable or satellite, as is the ability to view the content they want to watch somewhere else. Some 71% of those without cable or satellite say they lack these services in part because the cost is too expensive, while almost two-thirds said that they can access the content they want using an over-air antenna, on the Internet or using streaming services.