[hugh]

The study, which was the result of a survey of pay-TV operators and more than 6,000 U.S. consumers, found that many will choose to drop premium channels or cut their service down to a basic package, while others will choose to cut off their service completely.

My guess is the vast majority will trim back their spending rather than cut out service altogether.

A recent Nielsen report had OTA in the U.S. at 9% down from 11% a few years ago so the OTA trend is more negative than positive.

 

[99semaj]

...I think that OTA plays into this just as much as internet viewing. The downwards blip could well be explained as temporary as the "rabbit ear senior citizens" demographic shrinks and the "regular joe wanting the best quality at best value" demographic grows.

 

[hugh]

I don't think Internet viewing or OTA really have anything to do with this finding.

I this is simple economics. Cable and sat costs have gotten too high in the U.S. and people are saying that we aren't going to spend anymore so we will cut back the size of our package.

My suspicion is that Canadians are going to come to the conclusion that they can't or don't want to pay for the GIGANTIC package and will cut back.

 

[ScaryBob]

I suspect that it is a combination of factors. If I needed an extra $50-$100/mo to pay the mortgage or pay off debts and had access to a dozen or more digital OTA HD channels then satellite or cable would be high on my list of things to cancel. Many Canadians have virtually no access to digital OTA and very few analog channels so cable/satellite penetration is very high and other things get cut back on first. As an alternative, video rental services are available for as little as $10/mo.

 

[stampeder]

Two things that sour me on this supposed "survey"... first, from the article:

The study, which was the result of a survey of pay-TV operators and more than 6,000 U.S. consumers

So, what are we to learn from a survey using an unpublished formula answered only by pay-TV operators and a very small sampling of consumers? Bunk, that's what.

Second, the actual report is not available to you or I because the Yankee Group is a hired gun outfit that sells their reports to corporate clients. We have no opportunity to see what was really asked and to whom.

 

[mjjl]

I know my father has talked about the possibility of cutting down to digital basic on the cable - but I don't know if he will or not because that would mean giving up TSN, which he likes for curling and IIHF hockey.

At the risk of getting off topic, I would not be trusting this survey very much unless we can see the methodology involved. It is very easy to end up with a biased survey, especially if the survey is done by telephone because of the war on unsolicited phone calls. It is my belief the people willing to participate in phone surveys tend to be outgoing and have a lot of time on their hands, which doesn't represent the general population very well.

 

[Nuje]

Halle-freakin'-lujah, stampeder! I am so tired of supposed "studies" and "surveys" where the methodology is not fully disclosed, and/or questions asked of respondents are not supplied. Add in that oftentimes, surveys are funded by a party with a vested interest in the results, and they are, as you posit, pretty much meaningless, useless, and a waste of space.

 

[Blackburst]

No survey, nor special interest group reports should be taken seriously if there is no full disclosure of who pays for the survey, and who pays the groups salaries and expenses. Including who funds groups. I mean this not just in this case of the survey, but in all other situations as well when we see news reports, and special interest groups getting camera time, stories in newspapers, and on the web. I also hope to God that the Journalist would have the guts, or the brains, to ask for a full disclosure when doing a story. But sadly, all we get is PR releases by groups being reported as news. In my POV, this just poison for any democratic society.

 

[Krydor]

I would be more skeptical of the survey if it showed the opposite result.

 

[Lindsay649]

We have taken part in several on-line surveys on a variety of subjects with questions regarding reduction in cable/sat services. Would think that a higher degree of accuracy exists than one would think. With upcoming HST in Ontario some expenditures will be trimed......with the first, at least in our household, sat services.

 

[stampeder]

But the Yankee Group are famous for adamantly "confirming" years ago that SCO had "proven" to them that Unix code was in Linux. We all know how that turned out! Ha ha ha...

As I said, hired guns.