Pay-TV Subscriber Decline by Weak Economy, Not Cord-Cutting

written by: Gianluigi Cuccureddu

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Published on Monday, 27 September 2010 20:47

InStat research shows that the weak economy, not cord cutting, drives the US Pay-TV decline by 167,000 in the second quarter of 2010.

The reduction of 167,000 subscribers consisted of households with Cable TV, IPTV and satellite TV. The total finished at a 101.2 million subscibers.

According to Mike Paxton, Principal Analyst at Instat:

“There are several reasons behind the quarterly subscriber loss.
While growing availability of over-the-top Internet video is spurring talk of mass ‘cord-cutting,’ this decline is not about cancelling pay-TV in favor of Internet video. 
The main driver of these subscriber declines is the struggling US economy and high unemployment.”

Would this not be the last (external) push the emerging market needed to introduce new ways of consuming television content?
If the US economy is struggling and high unemployment is the daily challenge, people will seek a rebalance between price, quality and offer.

If over-the-top (OTT) and cord cutting are not the cause, then they'll be the effect of this macro-economic development, which will be extra pushed.