With the ever increasing array of alternatives to traditional TV, cord cutting has become a very popular topic of conversation. Are people really cutting the cord, though, and getting rid of their providers? Based on recent data from the Pew Research Center the answer is yes. Approximately 24% of Americans do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV in their homes. Almost 40% of these consumers have never had such a subscription in the first place.
The average monthly cable bill in this country was about $99 last December and experts believe those costs have risen 3-4% already this year. With an approximate 8% increase each year since 2010 it’s no wonder consumers are frustrated and looking for other options.
And a lot of options they have. Between Sling TV, Hulu, Netflix, PlayStation Vue, YouTube, HBO Go, Showtime and Amazon’s Prime Video service consumers have access to almost everything they could want. Getting subscriptions to all of these streaming services would add up to more than the average cable bill each month, but picking and choosing what you ‘need’ gives consumers huge savings.
For example, I reviewed my home’s must-have viewing list and we would need Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV and Amazon Prime. Considering we already have Hulu, Netflix and an Amazon Prime membership it would only take a $20 per month account with Sling TV to be able to cut the cord on our cable. Doing so would eliminate $109 off our cable bill – an $89 per month savings.
It looks like very shortly the only way to reach me with video messaging will be digitally.
