According to research from the Consumer Electronics Association, about 10% of pay-TV households are planning to cancel their cable, satellite or telco TV service this year, and turning to Internet
sources of content, not over-the-air broadcasts. CEA research finds only eight percent of households with a television rely exclusively on antenna reception, equating to 9 million (out of 114 million
households with TV) households in the U.S.
CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro said, "... antenna sales are falling and cord-cutters are not shifting to over-the-air television but rather to the
Internet... the only cord being cut these days is the one to the antenna..."
According to the CEA's survey, on the pay-TV front, about 76% of respondents said they were "unlikely" or "very
unlikely" to cancel pay-TV service in the next 12 months.
Likelihood To Cancel Pay
TV (Base: U.S. Adults With Cable, Satellite or Fiber to Home) |
How Likely to Cancel | % of Base Respondents |
Unlikely/Very Unlikely | 76% |
Somewhat likely/Somewhat unlikely | 14 |
Very likely/likely | 10 |
Source: CEA research, May 2011 |
But National
Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton has a contrary viewpoint, reports Todd Spangler of MultiChannel News. Wharton says "...CEA has zero credibility when it comes to calculating
over-the-air TV viewership. Knowledge Networks has stated that over-the-air exclusive homes are more than 14% and rising. We trust an unbiased research firm over a survey paid for by CEA..."
To receive television service, consumers have a myriad of choices, says the CEA Market Research Analysis Brief. The data finds 88% of households pay for their television service for at least one of
their household's sets. The study finds that 53% of households subscribe to cable service, followed by satellite service (32%) and fiber (10%).
Television remains the most popular device for
viewing content. CEA research finds nine in ten households view content on a television, followed by computers, car video entertainment, cell phones/smartphones, and MP3 players. Though viewing
content on computers is growing, the television remains the central CE device for viewing television content, says the report.
Devices Used To Watch Video Content |
Device | % of Respondents Using |
Television | 93% |
Computer | 49 |
Car video entertainment system | 13 |
Cell phone of smartphone | 13 |
MP-3 player | 11 |
Source: CEAresearch, May 2011 |
Looking at the sources available for viewing content, television programming from a service provider (80%) is the most popular, followed by movies on disc/tape. Four in ten
households report they view content On Demand and DVR, as more cable service providers offer the service and equipment for allowing consumers to view content on their own schedules.
Cable,
satellite and telco TV services remain the most popular source for video content, cited by 80% of respondents, followed by:
- Blu-ray/DVD (72%),
- Free video-on-demand (45%)
- DVR (41%)
- Paid VOD or pay-per-view (33%)
- Online sources such as youtube (31%)
- Free online TV shows and movies (27%)
- Paid online services such as Netflix
(22%)
For more information from the CES, and access to the PDF report, please visit here.