Are consumers kicking the TV habit and cutting the cord? Probably more than the numbers show
By Doris Montanera
LAST FALL, JUST BEFORE THE annual onslaught of new television programming was scheduled to air, a few friends and I discussed cutting the cord.
One couple said they were doing it in mid-September. Another said they weren’t going to give up cable altogether, but they were going to trim. The third set, my husband and I, didn’t say anything. We had already shaved to a basic package plus kids’ programming.
Fast-forward a few weeks. The ones who planned to trim, did. They had wanted to switch carriers too, but when they tried, they were seduced by a better deal with their existing provider.
A shocker – the ones who said they were going to cut, actually did. It was inconceivable to the rest of us; one of them was a TV junkie. They had four TV sets in a house where only three people lived. So far they’ve been cable-free for almost nine months and insist they don’t miss it.
In the survey scheme of things, three households is nothing, true. But the anecdotal evidence we all hear is looking like a microcosm of a broader issue. Cablecos and broadcasters, secure now in the notion that consumers need TV like they need food, water and shelter, will soon be sadly disabused.
“Cord cutting is not happening at any scale in Canada,” says Kaan Yigit, president of Solutions Research Group in Toronto, which specializes in cable, wireless, media and digital technology analysis. “Yet anyone who takes comfort in this is a fool.”
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