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survey released this week by Arbitron Inc. and Edison Media Research found, for the first time, that Americans are more willing to give up TV than the Internet.
Asked to choose the ”most essential” medium, 42 percent of the survey’s 1,753 respondents picked the Internet, 37 percent picked TV, 14 percent said radio and 5 percent said those dead-tree format newspapers.
That represents more evidence that major telecommunications companies will need to lasso control of the Internet before the cable television profit train derails. That’s because the Internet delivers the prospect of a two-for-one deal. Enjoy your online web surfing -and- stream your favorite television shows online at the same time — no more ever-increasing cable-TV bill for channels you never asked for and don’t watch.
Even more worrying for big cable — young people are increasingly never bothering to sign up for cable television in the first place. In the 18-24 age group, 74 percent said they would quit TV before surrendering the Web, and many never bothered with subscription television to begin with.
The last time Arbitron and Edison posed this question in a survey was in 2001, back when dial-up access still predominated. Back then, 72 percent of respondents said they could do without Internet and 26 percent said they’d give up TV.
“The shift over these nine years has been steady and profound,” said Edison Research president Larry Rosin.
Some consumers don’t want to watch television over their computers and would prefer to be entertained in a comfortable chair in the living room. But Internet video innovation is increasingly solving that problem by coupling your television or DVD player to the web. Several providers like Netflix even deliver their streaming video service through video game consoles.
How do cable companies stop the herd mentality to broadband video, leaving those big cable TV bills behind? Stick a meter on broadband service, and charge consumers for every TV show they watch or simply put a limit on their broadband service. The broadband usage cap or meter can, indeed, kill the online video star.
[flv width=”512″ height=”308″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WJW Cleveland The Download Internet More Important Than TV 4-9-10.flv[/flv]
WJW-TV in Cleveland reports that more people are ready to ditch their televisions than being willing to part with their Internet connection. (3 minutes)
Video innovation? That is going to take awhile to sink into my head. This video innovation is a driving issue that are making for all the problems we deal with today. Before this video innovation we never had a problem with rates, caps, or limits. Internet video is killing it all. Unless you have big pockets, and you are taking the rest of us down with you. I don’t want to pay in any form for you and your inabilty to not live without that video you seem to find so necessary. The system was not build for this and… Read more »
I not only would rather give up cable instead of internet, I did give up cable over internet about 8 or 9 years ago. I haven’t missed it. Cable companies have really got themselves in a place where they don’t understand the customer’s needs or wants. They are in a place much the same as the big three auto makers were a few years ago. They want to tell you what product you get and if you don’t like it, well tough you will have to buy anyway. Trouble is the customer does not like being told what he/she can… Read more »
I too as you gave it up a few years ago. I do miss it once and awhile. But what I do not miss is the 60 dollar a month haircut. 25->60 in less than 10 years? Im sorry but the service was no longer cost effective for me to keep. They also did not keep up with changes in the market. People wanted DVR’s but instead of finding ways to make DVR’s work better they wanted to co-op that market and rent it out at 5-10 bucks a month. Then forcing all the ‘new’ stuff that they put out… Read more »
I think a la carte programming would be the solution to the problem. Let the market decide. I mean that is the basis of our Capitalistic society, right? Well, some people say it won’t work or will drive prices up. I say, let’s give it a try. Yea Network A might think their programming is worth X amount but if the public doesn’t think so, they are going to have to lower the price. Anyway, that is my 2 cents…
If a la catre was offered and I could pick 10 or 15 channels for less than $30-35 a month while not needing a digital box on every TV, I would likely buy service from them. The cable company is just a middle man charging to deliver content. They don’t produce content. They just deliver content. As such the cost to deliver that content should not keep going up in cost like it has been. They don’t make anything new. All they have to do is service the lines and ensure they deliver a quality signal to the end user.… Read more »
We cut Cable TV, but kept the Cable Internet service, this past January. Haven’t missed it. It was mostly used for kid’s shows. So, we cut it and the digital phone, slashed our bill down $100 a month. We can buy a lot of kid’s DVDs at Wal-mart/Target for that! We’ve started waiting until shows are on DVD via Netflix for TV well before we cut the cord, too. Have to wait a while to see them, but can watch several episodes in a short period of time. It’s a lot more convenient. Looking into getting a Blu-ray player with… Read more »
I cut both internet and cable long ago, and I don’t have a problem without them, I just write real letters on paper in order to keep my local post office running. I just got my kids into reading and daily activities in nature. In fact, net nerds, your books have been waiting so long to be read, it’s wearing out.
Net Nerds, the paperback book and nature are calling for you.