Posts Tagged ‘cord-cutter’

The topic of “cord-cutting” has been a high-profile media topic in recent years, focusing on whether multichannel video subscribers are dropping their service in order to view content over the web, go back to rabbit ears, or just stop watching altogether.  The evidence so far shows that cord cutting is more talk than reality but the growing amount of video content on the web will definitely continue to stoke this topic.

Maybe because it was drawing towards the close of August when the news seems to move more slowly, but last week was quite busy for stories questioning the very existence of the cable’s video service.  This is always a ripe topic for conversation but it’s worth taking a deeper look at some of last week’s stories to show that video is holding its own.

I’ve written a number of times about so-called “cord-cutting” services in part to counter the charge that such offerings are necessarily “cable killers.” But I also keep looking into this issue because I’m genuinely interested in how the home video business is continuing to develop.

There’s a really interesting discussion to be had about the future of delivering video to the home. Which technology makes the most sense? How will content companies make money in the future?

We are now in the midst of a shift of how we consume video. When I was a kid, it was three broadcast networks and a handful of local independents.

One of the highlights of the SXSWi conference in Austin was the session “Pay TV vs. Internet – The Battle For Your TV,” featuring a no-holds-barred debate between Mark Cuban, Chairman and President of the programming service HDNet, and Avner Ronen, CEO & co-founder of Boxee.

Regular readers will note that I keep returning back to the issue of cord-cutting, mostly because I keep reading articles and blog posts about how it’s the big new trend.

At the recent CES conference, there was much discussion of 3-D TV, mobile devices and tablet PCs. But there was also a great deal of talk about the future of television and about alternatives means of delivering entertainment and information to consumers.

One of the big stories in tech reporting over the past year or so has been the move by some consumers to “cut the cord” from their subscription TV service and begin relying on the Internet for the delivery of video content.  I catch up on a lot of shows myself by watching them online and this is definitely a convenient service.

Earlier this week, I examined the recent coverage of the “cord-cutting” phenomenon. What I wanted to do was look at two questions: Can you really replace your cable service with just online video?

Online viewing of video is on the rise. This is a fact. But if you take the news coverage and blog posts about the “cord-cutting” phenomenon at face value, you would have the impression that this is a widespread phenomenon involving millions of consumers canceling their multichannel video subscriptions in favor of online distribution.

Stories about “cord cutting” seem to be all the rage right now, but many of them are overlooking some pretty basic – and readily available facts – which suggest that consumers may enjoy online video but they certainly aren’t ditching their set-top boxes by the truckload (just the opposite).

Stories come and go in both the general media landscape and the blogosphere, but often the same issues remain on the radar, but driven by different players and events.

For some time, I’ve been noting on my Twitter account the rising tide of people who have decided to cut the cord that ties them to servicing their television needs through cable, satellite or other wired means, instead turning to the Internet to be informed and entertained.  The topic is blowing up now, with Washington Post tech columnist Mike Musgrove now examining the issue in his column this past weekend (“TV Breaks Out of the Box”).

It probably comes as no news to you that the availability and consumption of broadband video has risen dramatically this year. I enjoy using Net-viewing to timeshift or catch up on old episodes of particular shows, as well as watching video that’s exclusive to the Web (I love ill Doctrine, a hip-hop video blog hosted by Jay Smooth).