Wednesday, May 29, 2013

USA Today Validates Cord Cutting Prediction

Just to help us to keep track for our end-of-year- report card on our trends, USA Today recently wrote about cord cutting.

Check out the article: "Are you ready to cut the cord? As many drop their cable provider in favor of streaming, is cutting the cord worth it?"

Personally, I think the number of services you need to subscribe to ends up being more complicated and incomplete -- though still less expensive on a monthly basis. Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon come to $22 per month (if you exclude Netflix's DVD-by-mail service). If you cut the cord, you lose access to live programing but you save $80 per month. That's a lot of money you can save if you don't mind an imperfect solution.

Over the next 18 months, given devices like the new Xbox One (See USA Today article: "How the Apple TV can compete with Xbox One"), which aim to be an all-in-one entertainment box for your living room, we think more people will consider cutting the cord.

One question is will services like HBO, Showtime and Cinemax, which all have apps for cable subscribers, will open up access to non-cable subscribers. How much would streaming customers be willing to pay for Game of Thrones?