If Cord Cutting Isn’t Real Yet, Just Wait: It Will Be
By Harry McCracken | Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 12:55 am
96.7 percent of us Americans have one or more TVs in the household. That’s a lot of TVs–but it’s fewer than before, say a new study by the Nielsen Company. Previously, 98.9 percent of us had TVs in the house.
So did the drop–the first one in two decades–happen because people are watching Internet TV in lieu of old-fashioned cable or terrestrial TV? Nielsen says it’s a factor, but it stresses another (distressing) one: low-income households which can’t afford TVs, especially after the digital transition rendered old analog sets useless without an adapter.
Cord-cutting is sometimes dismissed as a myth. And it’s true that no data shows TV watchers fleeing to the net in massive numbers just yet. But I feel in my bones that an awful lot of people are going to do so over the next few years–it’s just a matter of how many and how quickly. I mean, wouldn’t there have been a time in the 1990s when any study would have showed that only a tiny group of folks were listening to MP3s instead of CDs? And wouldn’t it have been a mistake to conclude then that this digital-music stuff wasn’t going to amount to much?
(Photo by Flickr user avlxyz)
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May 4th, 2011 at 2:07 am
How its been done here for 30 years: http://wilblake.com/#tv
May 4th, 2011 at 2:58 am
My wife and I sold our TV about 4 months ago and now rely on library books and Hulu for our entertainment. Well, mostly on Hulu. For us it is mainly just the desire to simplify our lives, which I think is a growing trend among our generation. Same reason that yoga is popular, I suppose.
May 4th, 2011 at 4:14 am
The big unknown to cord-cutting and being entertained online is how the duopoly telco and cableco industry will react. As household budgets get tighter and tighter, we are forced to choose between cable tv and internet bills. If we can get all the video entertainment we want via internet, it seems the cable bill will be the one we drop first.
But if the ISP monopolists institute low data caps, throttle Netflix, Youtube and Hulu and the like, we won’t be able to get video entertainment on the internet — not all we want. This pushes us to rent DVDs from Netflix — or else, maybe, get a decent onair antenna and hook it up to the HDTV. That’s a one time expense, and it just might save local broadcast channels from this onslaught.
To me the picture is far from clear. Personally I’d like to see a return to old time radio! That’s something you can listen to while you do other things.
May 4th, 2011 at 4:46 am
I still have a TV, but only so I can hook up my video game consoles to it. I used to have a satellite dish, but I cancelled my subscription once I realized that virtually everything I would ever want to watch is on Netflix anyway.
May 4th, 2011 at 5:37 am
"And it’s true that no data show TV watchers fleeing to the net in massive numbers just yet. But I feel in my bones that an awful lot of people are going to do so over the next few years"
Inflection points are very difficult to predict. Especially early on.
Trust your bones.
May 4th, 2011 at 8:21 am
One reason this may happen is advertising. You can record a show and skip all the commercials, but if you watch a show online, you are forced to watch commercials. Ther reall issue is who is going to pay for all the bandwidth of all that streaming video.
May 4th, 2011 at 9:06 am
We're moving to a new place this summer and plan to do our best to switch to internet-based video entertainment. We expect the small number of things we may have to do without won't justify the cost of satellite TV (in addition to a good internet connection which is far more important to us).
May 4th, 2011 at 9:24 am
Yeah, I think this is an indication, but also slightly misleading. Just because someone cuts the cable doesn't mean they don't own a TV. I too use my TV to play a video game or watch a movie. Ironically, sometimes I even hook my laptop up to it and watch an internet show streaming on my TV!
May 4th, 2011 at 9:53 am
I think SpikeTV and AMC are the only networks that I'm missing with switching to Hulu. I'm VERY close to making the switch now that my grocery + gas for cars have increased $200+ per month combined. The extra $60 per month saved on cable would definitely lessen the blow.
May 4th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Harry, you need to search out the national poll done a few years ago that showed LOTS of people spending time on the net (not TV on the Net) rather than watching TV. There is the answer to your question.
May 5th, 2011 at 3:46 am
Also interesting because when Neilson people call, I don't think I give them one piece of truthful information. I told them I had 36 televisions in my condo. I can't be the only person that detests cold-call surveys and polling.