Average U.S. consumer pays $1,600 annually for Cable/Satellite TV

[Bruce]

Cable TV Subscribers Pay $1,618 a Year for Channels (and Ads) They Don’t Watch

The average U.S. consumer pays $1,600 annually for 190 channels—but only watches 15. Here's what that's bad news for advertisers.

research.mountain.com

Highlights-

• The average U.S. consumer pays $1,600 annually for cable TV channels they don’t watch, if you make $50,000 a year, that is 3% of your gross income
• These audiences typically have access to 190 channels but only watch 15, I watch maybe 10 at most, most very part time, example, only watch Big Ten Channel during Football Season.
• Meanwhile, the cable bill has grown 52% in the last three years—speeding up cord-cutting, now expected to lose 7-8 million subscribers this year.
• 4 out of 5 linear TV customers wish they could pay for just the channels they watch, similar to the streaming model, hence why I am giving up YTTV at the end of the year, tired of paying for stuff I never watch.

then this-

I hate charts like this because the numbers are always wrong and they include streaming services that are not a replacement for Cable/Sat TV, but are a extra

This is what I consider the closest to a Cable replacement, all commercial free
Peacock-$10 (NBC/Universal Cable Channels)
Hulu with Disney/ESPN+ $20 (ABC/FOX and all their cable Channels)
Paramount+ with Showtime $10 , I pay yearly, so average is that amount ( CBS and Viacom Channels )
HBO/MAX $20 ( which includes Discovery, Warner Cable Channels Content)
AMC+ $8

So if you want to replace Cable TV and also get the exclusive content, that is only $68 a month, a savings of $79 based on that chart.
If you want to go cheaper, get the commercial versions, or do not get all of the above, AMC and MAX I will not be getting this year, so a savings of $28 more dollars a month.

Then if you want to add Netflix, Prime and Apple, which would be a extra if you are a cord cutter or Cable/Sat TV subscriber, that is $38 a month more

 

[comfortably_numb]

Insane. As of June 24, when my Netflix sub ends, I'll be paying $0 annually for TV, and I've never felt better about it!

 

[dishdude]

That's insane, I can't imagine paying $147 for cable.

And no need to sub to all of those streaming services at once, rotate them out. Sub to one, binge watch and move on to the next one.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I can't imagine paying $147 for cable

I'm willing to bet it's mostly older people, like my parents, who absolutely have to have their "clicker" remote with DVR and the traditional channel packages. They just can't adapt to a different model, so they'll pay whatever the cableco asks.

 

[dweber]

I pay $79.99 per month to Spectrum for my internet and $176.96 to Dish so total of $3083 per year. But don’t criticize my spending because I don’t spend money golfing, bowling, and I don’t go to Starbucks.
I enjoy my Hopper3 receivers and my sons use Dish Anywhere to watch dad’s programming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ncted]

I'm willing to be it's mostly older people, like my parents, who absolutely have to have their "clicker" remote with DVR and the traditional channel packages. They just can't adapt to a different model, so they'll pay whatever the cableco asks.

Yeah. I've tried and tried with my parents, but it just ain't happening. I think it bugs me a lot more that they are overpaying than it does them. They also pay for post-paid Verizon wireless which is ridiculous for what you get, but they don't want to hear about other options which would save them money.

 

[comfortably_numb]

They also pay for post-paid Verizon wireless which is ridiculous for what you get, but they don't want to hear about other options which would save them money.

I convinced them to move to Verizon prepaid since they have used (paid off) phones. That was a much easier battle.

 

[MikeD-C05]

So the Cord Cutters video on You tube yesterday. HE says that Cable penetration will be down to 1970s levels by 2025. They expect over 72% of Cable /Satellite viewers will cut the cable. He did say that satellite might last a bit longer because it is still used in rural areas and in R.V.s etc. But with broadband expanding over the rural areas in the coming years, you can see this advantage waning with time.

 

[Bruce]

So the Cord Cutters video on You tube yesterday. HE says that Cable penetration will be down to 1970s levels by 2025. They expect over 72% of Cable /Satellite viewers will cut the cable. He did say that satellite might last a bit longer because it is still used in rural areas and in R.V.s etc. But with broadband expanding over the rural areas in the coming years, you can see this advantage waning with time.

If you do the math, there is not that many rural satellite subscribers.

If you google how many rural households in the United States, the common answer is 20 Million, yet there is only about 9 Million DirecTV Satellite Subs, 7 Million Dish Subs, that is only 16 Million.

So even if we did a 60% Metro / 40% Rural for Sat. Subs, that is only 6.4 Million Rural Households.

So either a lot more rural homes get broadband now or they just do not care about Sat. TV.

 

[navychop]

Or something new and compelling comes out.

 

[Bruce]

Or something new and compelling comes out.

For Rural Areas, not many options-Satellite, Antenna, Physical Media and if lucky…….Cable/Broadband.

As I have written before, where my house is, it is considered rural with land, septic, well and lots of farm land that is disappearing.

When we moved here in 2020, found out this area did not get it until 2018, back in Metro Detroit, had broadband since the late 90’s

And cell service sucks here, so no 5G options, always have my phone in wi-fi calling mode.