Audio Video News

Bell Tolls for Pay-TV

Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 15, 2017

Forty-one percent of cable and satellite subscribers are planning to trim or sever their pay-TV subscriptions, according to a survey of 1,000 customers by FocusVision and Zanthus.

That’s a lot more than the 16 percent of video streaming subscribers who say the same. Customers with one or the other are about the same, at 76 percent for pay-TV and 75 percent for streaming—51 percent have both.

Customer satisfaction is lower for pay-TV subs, at 27 percent for value and 41 percent for customer care, versus 59 and 62 percent for streaming subs.

COMMENTS
brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on February 15, 2017 - 1:26pm

$180/month currently for DirecTV and I'm not even in the top tier. My current plan is to turn my satellite dish into an OTA antenna, purchase a Channel Master DVR, and subscribe to Playstation Vue. I've noticed Vue's top tier now includes HBO and Showtime for $65/month. My smart TV has Netflix and Amazon. Seems like a no brainer. I will miss being able to watch recorded shows on any TV but I can't think of any other drawbacks.

Old Ben's picture
Submitted by Old Ben on February 16, 2017 - 9:06am

Before you settle on the Channel Master DVR, consider the Tivo Roamio OTA DVR as well. It comes with a lifetime guide subscription, and the guide is good. It has many but not all of the streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon Video, built in. One of the great things with the TiVO box is the integrated search - if you search for a show, it searches across all the available media sources.

brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on February 16, 2017 - 9:10am

I'm not into paying a monthly service for a DVR and Tivo comes up short compared to Vue for channel selection.

Old Ben's picture
Submitted by Old Ben on February 16, 2017 - 11:18am

The Tivo box I mentioned (the Roamia OTA) doesn't have a monthly subscription. The lifetime guide service is priced into the cost of the box.

brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on February 16, 2017 - 11:56am

I see that now although $400 seems a bit steep.

Old Ben's picture
Submitted by Old Ben on February 16, 2017 - 9:11am

We ditched DirecTV this summer and replaced it with a Tivo Roamio OTA DVR. Between over-the-air broadcasts of the shows we watch and streaming via Netflix and Amazon Prime, we're pretty happy with the switch. I think we have the same complaint that a lot of people have with pay TV. The value just isn't there for what we watch. Yes, we get a huge array of channels and programming for the $100-200 per month that we are charged, but we watch a tiny fraction of those channels. Since the pay TV providers don't offer a la carte channel selection, they force consumers into an all or nothing choice. We have chosen "nothing."

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