The percentage of UK pay-TV subscribers that are considering leaving their supplier in favour of alternative suppliers is identical to that of their US counterparts.
According to Strategy Analytics the percentage of all current pay-TV customers in the United States who say they are somewhat or very likely to stop paying for TV service altogether in the next 12 months, dubbed ‘cordcutters’, is 13%. The equivalent for the UK, where respondents answered either ‘somewhat’ or ‘very likely’ is also 13%.
David Mercer, VP, digital consumer practice, Strategy Analytics told Broadband TV News that such figures are unlikely to worry the pay-TV providers at this stage. “If you think about normal churn they can probably say that it is within the ballpark they expect, so there’s no reason to panic, but there are financial pressures.” Mercer said that in addition to Freeview there was a very small number of TV watchers taking their multichannel television from the Internet.
There is currently a debate developing in the US over the significance of over-the-top providers and whether or not the current triple play and packaging model can survive. Generally-speaking, US operators have so far attributed any subscriber losses to recessionary pressures.
