Almost half of cable TV customers say they would pay $10 per month to watch video on their PCs
There's a lot of speculation right now that the cable and satellite providers are cooking up their own online video services which would only let paid subscribers watch the videos.
Such a system would presumably reduce the number of "cord-cutters" who are dumping their paid TV packages and opting for free, legal videos from Hulu and other sites.
But Michael Greeson, an analyst with TDG, said that not only could cable providers corner the market for online video, but a survey indicates providers could actually charge their customers extra to watch their shows online.
Only one-third of those interested in a TV-to-PC service would not pay an additional monthly fee for such a service. You heard it right: approximately 29% of broadband users (99% of whom currently subscribe to a Pay TV service) would spend at least $10 extra each month to get their TV programming delivered to their PCs. To date, focus has been upon delivering online video to the TV. Few have paid attention to the business proposition for delivering TV programming to the PC (to their detriment, for sure).Comcast has close to 17 million digital TV subscribers and 15 million broadband Internet subscribers. If 29% of Comcast's broadband Internet subscribers (4.35 million) would spend an extra $10 per month to have their current TV programming delivered to their PCs, that's an additional $43.5 million in gross revenue each month. That's ~$130 million per quarter or ~$522 million per year in additional revenue. Made you blink, made you think, didn't it? It times like these - where simply maintaining revenues and profits would be considered an accomplishment - an extra $500 million in additional revenue can make a huge difference.
I won't dismiss out of hand the prospect of paying extra for online video.
But as a consumer, if my bill is going up by $10 a month, I expect a lot.
I want no commercials whatsoever, everything in HD, instant availability of every show and movie that I get on my TV at the same time it is broadcast on TV, live streaming of sporting events, and access to my videos from anywhere in the world from any browser on an Internet-connected PC.
If my cable or satellite provider can provide those kinds of services, then the extra cost would be worth it.
But if I essentially have to start paying for Hulu, complete with ads, limited HD availability and a delay between the time the video is broadcast on TV and when it shows up online, then no thanks.
