• by Wayne Friedman , March 15, 2017

For consumers, most of the broadcasters networks are the most popular TV networks when it comes to buying an “a la carte” pay TV package.

A TiVo study reports that respondents tout ABC (65.8%), CBS (63.5%), Discovery Channel (61.8%), NBC (61.0%); History (56%); Fox (52.6), A&E (51.6%), PBS (49%), TNT (47.6%) and FX (47.5%) as the top 10 most popular networks.

Other networks include HBO (47.2%); AMC (45.5%); TBS (45.1%); National Geographic (45.0%); USA Network (44.4%); Food Network (43.5%); Comedy Central (43.4%); HGTV (42.2%); ESPN (41.3%); and The Weather Channel (40.6%).

These results were drawn from respondents who were asked, in reference to an a la carte pay TV service: “Which channels would you be interested in including in your TV package?  

For the top 20 channels, the fourth-quarter 2016 study says consumers would pay $28.87 per month -- this is down from $32.92 in the third quarter.

Many new virtual/digital pay TV providers -- such as DirecTV Now, Sling TV and others are priced in the $20 to $35 a month range.

By way of comparison, the largest percentage of TV consumers, 34.8%, pay $101 or more per month for their traditional pay TV packages; 20% pay between $76 and $100; 27%, pay between $51 and $75; and 17.5% pay less than $50.