Viewpoint: Cable Customers On The Decline
While waiting for Time Warner to resume its El Paso high school sports coverage as promised, today, let?s turn our attention to customers steadily dropping pay TV subscriptions.
USA Today reported that Time Warner Cable lost 130,000 subscribers nationwide in the second quarter of this year. Comcast lost 238,000 subscribers. DirecTV added 26,000, but that?s down from the 100,000 it added in the second quarter last year.
The slumping economy is part of the reason. Many viewers are turning to Internet video options. Over-the-air broadcast can be secured for free through rabbit ears or rooftop antennas that receive HD programming with superior quality than that offered by the pay TV sources.
One reason that cable and satellite prices are going through the roof is the escalating cost paid by ESPN and other sports channels for rights to major professional and college sports. American Cable Association President Matt Polka slammed ESPN?s new eight-year, $15 billion-plus deal to renew “Monday Night Football” as ?into the stratosphere.? Researchers estimate that the cost for sports? percentage of programming cable bills is more than 40 percent of the cable and satellite company?s cost.
My network, ABC, has largely stopped supplying top-tier sports to ABC affiliates. Disney owns ABC and ESPN. It is now funneling “Monday Night Football, ” the BCS bowl games and championship, the British Open and other major sporting events to its cable component, where it believes that cable and satellite companies will have no choice but to offer these sporting events to their customers. Of course, the escalating sports programming cost gets passed on to you.
It?s a vicious cycle that shows no sign of abatement. Many consumers don?t want to indirectly funnel more than $4 of their cable bill to ESPN and, thus, are cutting the cord. Less dramatic, the number of American homes with TV sets has actually dropped by about one million households. Yet, total TV viewing is on the rise, because more viewers are watching Internet-delivered video on a PC, tablet or smartphone.
For years, consumer advocates have argued for la carte cable programming options. The theory is that consumers can pick and choose their viewing options and save money. However, cable companies have never budged.
The news is not all bad for cable companies, which are enjoying robust broadband delivery growth. All of which leads me back to the high school coverage that I was told Time Warner would re-introduce. The volleyball season is halfway over and the fourth week of the football season is now past. That?s unique programming that is not offered and leaves me ready to address my TV entertainment options, just like picky Americans are doing everywhere.
