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As online viewing options grow more varied and plentiful, it will become easier to say goodbye to cable.
Posted by Kim Peterson on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:37 PM
Tired of pricey cable bills? Perhaps you should cut the cable cord, as a surprising number of U.S. households have done.
One research firm estimates that 800,000 U.S. homes have cut cable altogether over the past two years, TechCrunch reports. By the end of next year, that number could rise to 1.6 million.
And here's a fact that Comcast (CMCSA) and Cablevision (CVC) would rather you didn't know: It's easier than ever to banish cable with all the Internet video offerings out there.
Nick Bilton wrote in The New York Times recently about ditching cable and instead hooking up a Mac Mini, a wireless mouse and a Microsoft Xbox 360 to his television.
Now, he watches online videos from Netflix (NFLX). And Apple (AAPL) offers plenty of programming at its iTunes store. The Hulu Web site has free TV shows like "Glee" and "Lost."
But none of this is a huge threat to shops like Time Warner Cable (TWC). At least not yet. There are still about 100 million subscribers to cable, satellite and similar systems, TechCrunch reports. Post continues after video:
And advertisers are sticking with traditional TV. About $62 billion was spent on traditional TV advertising last year, TechCrunch reports, compared with only about $1 billion, or perhaps less, going to online television.
Cable and satellite companies are stepping up with a growing library of on-demand programming for customers. And they have a huge advantage over online offerings because they can automatically serve the videos right to the television. The Netflixes and Apples of the world must rely on the customer to take a few extra steps to connect the service to a home TV.
Still, the trend lines are there. TechCrunch reports that about 1.3 million people watched part of the Masters golf tournament online this year. That's twice the audience of the past.
For a small number of cable subscribers, the Web offerings were enough to justify cutting the cord.
800,000 households cut cable
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