A full 70% of consumers are planning to keep their video subscription situation just as it is during the coming year. And there’s even better news for CATV and DBS services: only two out of 600 respondents are dropping service altogether. The study came from Pike & Fischer, which wonders when internet video will start making inroads into MVPD subs.
It wasn’t all good news, however. 15% plan to downgrade their service as a cost-cutting measure, against only 8% that are planning to upgrade their subscription to get more premium channels and services and/or gain access to high-def programming.
P&F took a good hard look at competition from internet-based video services. It found that 32% of respondents were regular users of sites like Hulu, Youtube and iTunes.
“The results indicate that consumers appear to be willing to continue paying for cable or satellite TV, despite the fact that they can get a vast amount of shows for free or very low cost on services like Hulu and Veoh,” said Scott Sleek, director of P&F’s Broadband Advisory Services. “But they don’t appear to be willing to spend any extra money for premium channels or on-demand movies. And they’re increasingly willing to go to the Internet to watch their favorite shows.”
RBR/TVBR observation: We wouldn’t be thinking about the internet at all in analyzing these results. To us, it’s a sign that in a slow economy, most Americans are planning to pop their own corn and get their entertainment in their own home at the expense of theatrical offerings.
