With the average cost of cable hitting a record high of $103.26 per subscriber 305,000 Americans canceled their pay TV subscriptions in the 2nd quarter 2014 according to Wall Street analyst firm MoffettNathanson.
With cheaper services like Netflix and Amazon that offer the same and some times more options compared to Cable a growing number of customers are becoming cord cutter.
Clearly the pressure is starting to get to media companies. Just this week we have heard from board members at places like S talk about selling directly to subscribers. Viacom has also announced they will sell their channels with Sony’s new internet only TV services.
Jerry Kent, chairman and CEO of Suddenlink Communications saidWe need flexibility of working with programmers to deliver lower-priced tiers, durring a panel at Junes 2014 Cable Show. Otherwise, he said, the government may step in to mandate a la carte pricing, or well have to take a hard look at what programming we want to continue carrying.
2014 could be the year is marked as the end of cable TV as we know it today.