Report: U.S. Pay-TV Customers Willing to Switch Platforms

BOSTON: A new report published by Strategy Analytics has found that 68 percent of U.S. pay-TV customers would switch to a different platform if given a discount of 20 percent on their monthly fee.

Cable customers are the most likely to churn, the report says, noting that only 33 percent of telco TV/IPTV customers would move to a different service. Nonetheless, 71 percent of the respondents reported being "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with their current provider. Telco/IPTV customers reported 95 percent overall satisfaction, compared to 78 percent for satellite and 67 percent for cable. Less than 22 percent of subscribers reported getting “value for money” that exceeded expectations.

“The value-for-money result was perhaps the most important finding of this study,” noted Ben Piper, the director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “It underscores a trend we have been seeing for the past 18 months: a growing number of customers are beginning to question the value of a ‘traditional’ pay-TV subscription in light of expanded ‘over-the-top’ offerings, such as Hulu and Netflix.”