87% of Cord-Cutters Cite High Price of Pay TV as Chief Reason
Viewers are fed up with the high price of cable and satellite service, and the availability of lower-priced streaming services may be the reason why. TiVo released its Q4 2017 Video Trends report today, and it shows that 86.7 percent of people who canceled their pay TV service did so because the price was too high. This is the highest percent for this question since TiVo began asking it in Q3 2016. It also shows a 6.6 percent year-over-year increase.
The next most popular reasons for canceling pay TV service are the use of streaming services (39.7 percent) and the use of an antenna (23 percent). Both of these reasons showed a year-over-year decrease, meaning they were chosen less often than they were last year.
Half of respondents with cable or satellite pay between $51 and $100 per month for their subscriptions, while 20 percent pay $126 or more per month. Looking at churn, TiVo found 9.3 percent of those with pay TV service changed providers in the last 3 months, while 7.3 percent are planning to cut pay TV service altogether.
Once again, an overwhelming number of respondents (81.3 percent) said they would like an a la carte option where they pay only for the channels they want, a figure that increased 4.7 percent year-over-year. No provider offers a la carte channel selection.
TiVo's data comes from a survey of 3,330 adults in the U.S. and Canada. For more, download the full report for free (registration required).
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