Research: US pay-TV lost 18m+ subs between 2014-20

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Findings from research firm Parks Associates suggest that between 2014 and 2020, the US pay-TV industry lost over 18 million subscribers, while the broadband market has accelerated, with 40 per cent of US broadband households receiving a standalone service. In 2020, over seven million households dropped their pay-TV services. Traditional pay TV — television services delivered over an operator-controlled network to an operator-controlled device — declined by an estimated 10 million subscriptions.

The industry report – Modern Broadband: Shifting Landscape – by Parks Associates’ Sr. Analyst Kristen Hanich, investigates new developments in the broadband market spanning business opportunities, operational needs, and competitive factors for broadband players.

“Online pay-TV service from virtual MVPDs, players that target the general population instead of offering services to a specific geographic footprint, grew by an estimated three million,” advises Hanich. “vMVPDs overall have grown to represent an increasingly large percentage of the pay-TV market — accounting for 16 per cent of US pay-TV subscriptions in 2020.”

In the US market, vMVPDs represented the only segment of the pay-TV space to experience growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parks Associates estimates that by the year 2024, the traditional pay-TV subscriber base will decline to just 53 million US households — while vMVPDs will increase to over 23 million.

https://advanced-television.com/2021/07/08/research-us-pay-tv-lost-18m-subs-between-2014-2020/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Two reasons: (1) price paid for what you get and (2) cannot pick and choose.

I do not watch sports or religion yet they are foisted upon you. And the 'regional sports fee' WTF. $14? No thanks. I cut Comcast months ago and do not miss it.

[crickets]

10. (3) Way too many commercials. nt

[Twoflower]

2. I am one of them and I do not miss it.

[PortTack]

3. If they would let one choose I'd be all over that

It would be interesting to see just how many millions would drop fux snooz

[Bettie]

4. Several streaming services

cover all the stuff we watch on TV. Even if we added a few more, we'd be saving more than 100 bucks a month over cable and that's with doubling our data allowance.

[ruet]

5. It's Going To Loose Another This Weekend.

I've been researching a new antenna and demoing live TV streaming from Hulu and Google. The final decision will be made soon.

[gldstwmn]

12. Hulu has had some great programs lately.

The United States v. Billie Holliday, Sumer of Soul and the Handmaid's Tale to name a few.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

13. Summer of Soul was incredible

I also just watch the Zappa doc by the guy who played Bill in Bill and Ted.

[gldstwmn]

15. Seeing Stevie Wonder play drums

and David Ruffin sing in Mariah Carey whistle tones blew my mind. Sly and the Fifth Dimension were incredible too. I'll have to watch the Zappa doc. He was an interesting guy to say the least.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

16. Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples was for lack of a better term

A religious experience.

[gldstwmn]

17. That was really something. But I had never seen Nina Simone

perform live up to that point, only heard her. Wow.

[hunter]

6. My wife and I quit cable and broadcast television many years ago...

... somewhere about the time a decent cable package first exceeded $39.99 a month.

Part of the problem was we didn't have $39.99 a month because we were drowning in medical bills that our gold standard standard health insurance plan frequently refused to pay. I got really good at appealing their denials.

Nevertheless we ran out Cobra to the bitter end when my wife was accepted to our state's "high risk" plan a few days before her next scheduled chemo. And chemo worked!

Live and learn, we should have gone for the platinum plan and we should have been wealthy. (My wedding ring is platinum. It appealed to the chemist in me.)

For a long time after that our television only played videotapes and DVDs we rented or found in thrift stores.

Then one of our children, a huge fan of low and medium budget movie making, working towards a high power university degree related to that, set us up with Netflix.

We've been streaming since.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

8. The Cable networks couldn't compete with streaming

And were losing advertisers, so they started raising prices for the Cable Companies, who passed it on to the consumers. Which accelerated the exodus.
The company I work for pretty much gave up on Cable TV around 2015 - we offer it, but it's very expensive and we don't make any money on it.

Funny thing - now that most people are going with streaming, I'm starting to see the people who complained they couldn't get a'la carte cable complaining that they have to subscribe to too many services to get the programs they want.

I'm lucky in that I get most services through work, but I still pay for Prime, Disney, Netflix and Hulu. I'd pay for HBO Max if I wasn't getting that free.

With a nice antenna for local programming, and freebie services through our TV like Pluto, we don't miss Cable TV at all.

[hunter]

11. I've long lost any tolerance I once had for television commercials.

Even the in-between-shows PBS sort.

Line-of-sight with mountain top television transmitters we could receive all the major television networks with a bent seven inch wire stuck into the antenna input but there hasn't been a wire in that hole for more than a decade.

The last television show we recorded was a mid-series episode of Chuck

We finished out the series on a box set DVD.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

19. "Chemo worked"

Glad to hear your wife is doing better. We used Cobra for two months before my husband’s insurance took over. Going into a panic not knowing how a loved ones vital medical care will be payed for is inhumane, it just should not happen.

……

Now need to review my streaming services. Have one I am paying for and haven’t used for months.

I do have a cheap over the air antenna. It grabs 50 or so broadcast channels. Used for national news, debates, other things that are available over the air. Love PBS (shame me into becoming a contributor again).

The only thing I am missing is live sports for my formally local teams, Brewers and Packers in my case.

[Tracer]

7. I cut cable when it went over $200/month.

Chose Hulu Live at $39/month. In just two and a half years, Hulu Live went from $39 to $69/month.

That's the future, folks. Streaming will start out at a reasonable price and then......?

[BoomaofBandM]

9. My 10 year old grandson is on a vacation with his dad at one of the Disney world resorts.

I guess he was confused the resort only had cable, not the streaming he is used to. None of us has cable any more. His dad set up streaming through his phone. Kids these days are aware and advanced. Corporations had best wake up to what is really happening in the world.

[Boomerproud]

14. Commercials Commercials Commercials.

No channel is exempt. Hate it.

[roamer65]

18. I get 35 usable channels over the air in the Metro Detroit area.

Minus the religious cult and home shopping crap.

That is literally a basic cable service for free.

That plus streaming is why cable is losing subs so damn quick.

Scripps news network, Newsy, goes over the air on 1 Oct this year. It will reach about 90 percent of homes.

[lame54]

20. Whew - I thought you meant sandwiches