Widespread Demand for Online Video, IF Some Conditions are Met

Some 87 percent of U.S. consumers buy multichannel television, but 56 percent of respondents to a recent Harris Poll say they would stop buying multichannel TV and watch on the Internet if certain conditions were met.

Some 44 percent said they would stop buying cable, satellite or telco TV is all of the programs that they wanted to watch were available, for no incremental charge, online. That should come as no surprise.
"Free" is a highly-popular consumer price point.

But "day and date" issues are important as well. Some 25 percent said they would stop buying multichannel TV if they could watch online at the same time the programs were run on a subscription TV service.

Some 16 percent would do so if they could get all the programs they wanted to watch for a small fee online and another 16 percent said they would do so if it was less complicated to set their TV up with Internet.

Looking by age, majorities (59 percent to 62 percent) of multichannel video subscribers between the ages of 18 and 54 said they would be interested in giving up their cable TV if certain conditions were met.

Since it is highly unlikely, perhaps nearly impossible that content owners and distributors are going to go along with the "free or low cost" availability of popular content, video cord cutting on a massive scale seems unlikely. The most likely scenario is a shift to "get Internet access, with some restrictions, if you keep buying what you already do, and possibly pay a bit more."

That's the only scenario that would satisfy content owners and major distributors, no matter what consumers might want.

WOULD STOP PAYING FOR CABLE IF…

"Which of the following, if any, complete this sentence for you? Please select all that apply.

I would stop paying for cable television in favor of watching TV shows on the Internet if…"

Base: All U.S. adults

	Total	Age				Gender
		18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Have cable TV (NET)	87	85	88	88	89	87	87
Have any interest in giving up cable TV (NET)	56	62	62	59	45	60	52
I could get all the programs I wanted to watch for free online	44	48	47	50	36	47	41
I could get all programs online at the same time that they air on television	25	33	28	25	17	27	23
I could get all the programs I wanted to watch for a small fee online	16	23	20	13	10	20	12
It was less complicated to set up my television with Internet	16	14	19	19	15	17	15
Something else	5	8	5	5	3	6	5
Nothing - I have no interest in giving up my cable TV	30	20	22	27	43	25	34
Not applicable - I already gave up my cable TV in favor of watching TV on the Internet	2	3	4	1	1	2	2
Not applicable - I do not have cable TV	13	15	12	12	11	13	13

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > The Evolution of Watching Television