193,000 Americans quit their paid television plans last quarter. Sounds like a lot, and it is! But as any horse-breeder will tell you (I would guess?): it’s about quality, not quantity. And the people leaving pay TV behind, GigaOm reports, aren’t the ones the payt TV companies care about.
While high-value consumers — the folks who’ll shell out for multiple DVR boxes and fire up the VOD services — are staying and paying, it’s the basic cable grunts who are saying goodbye.
So is streaming video online not as potent a draw as we thought? In these cases probably not. But the more the pay TV providers try to squeeze out of the folks who can afford it, the more they’re going to start looking to streaming solutions. That’s the line the pay TV companies of the world have to walk. And honestly, I still think they may already have crossed it. [GigaOm]
TSH
Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 10:36 AMAFAIK, PayTV is only useful for those who want live sport or are desperate to watch their favourite shows the *moment* they come out. Otherwise there are better, cheaper and more convenient ways to watch what you want.
In short, PayTV is for chumps.
Greg
Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 11:38 AMWhen approx. 77% of Americans have either cable or satellite, and the population of the USA is 307M, 193,000 people is only 0.08% of the population.
Hardly “a lot” of people. Barely a blip on the cable providers’ radar.