• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 30, 2016

A somewhat hippy-ish older man was chuckling on his phone at a Target store, saying: “I’m looking for towels. I never bought a towel before. It’s always been given to me.”

Traditional TV may always seem that way -- always there, always a “given,”  so to speak. Then came cable, satellite and telco. And we had to shop a bit.

Now there’s higher fees, and more cost-conscious entertainment consumers. What do you buy to save yourself money and get rid of channels you’ll never watch?

These days -- if you are frugal shopper, with limited resources -- you indeed may be seeking alternatives, including skinnier TV packages, via cable, satellite, and telco, and/or new over the top digitally delivered services.

If you believe the studies, the issue of “cord-shaving” is upon us -- especially with cable networks.

Brian Wieser, senior research analyst of the Pivotal Research Group, recently wrote there was a 2.5% decline in cable network subscribers and a 1.7% drop in pay TV homes according to Nielsen. “We interpret this data as illustrating a broader trend of 'cord-shaving,'” he writes. 

Someone is indeed shopping. So follow the money.

Pay TV revenues -- cable, satellite, and telco -- in North America peaked in 2015 at $111.64 billion, according to Digital TV Research.

Forecast are these revenues will fall by 12.1%  -- or $13.54 billion --  to $98.10 billion in 2021. It breaks down this way: Cable revenues will decline by $10.76 billion; satellite TV will lose $2.13 billion; and telco TV will slip $650,000.

But the pay TV industry -- including major media company executives such as Bob Iger, chairman/chief executive officer of Walt Disney -- say the traditional pay TV “bundle” isn’t going away. There is still plenty of value.

If that is the case,  then the industry needs to do a better job in telling that story,  in marketing campaigns on TV, print, radio and, yes, on digital platforms where it seems those cord-shavers are looking to weigh new TV-video options.

Someone is shopping -- and not just for towels.