• by Wayne Friedman , September 3, 2013

Straying from your TV service marriage? A new survey says a growing number of consumers are “cord-cheaters.” Video search/discovery company Digitalsmiths says cord-cheating refers to a trend by consumers to take over-the-top (OTT) services -- such as Netflix and Hulu Plus -- as an alternative to buying more services from their traditional pay-TV providers.

The study says 35% already have a OTT service, and 22.1% regularly use a third party pay-per-rental service. On the flip side, it says 74% have never purchased anything from a TV service from its video-on-demand offerings, and that 68% of smartphone and tablet owners have not downloaded their pay-TV service's app. Fourteen percent have already cut back on services, and another 27.5% are thinking about cutting more service on their cable/satellite/telco service in the next six months.

Overall, 4.3% of survey respondents plan to “cut” their cable/satellite service in the next six months -- so-called “cord-cutters.” Of those who are decreasing service, 47.2% of survey respondents say they have cut premium channels, while 12.3% eliminated premium sports packages and 38.7% reduced the overall level of cable/satellite service.

The survey was conducted with about 1,850 U.S. and Canada consumers, 18 years and older, in the second quarter of 2013.