This week, my wife and I finally decided to drop our satellite TV service. We almost never watch it. I turn it on maybe once or twice a month, at most. For what we’re getting, it’s crazy expensive. There are some TV shows I’d like to see, but it’s just not worth what’s being charged. Even if I agree rationally, for about a year I’ve been emotionally attached to hanging onto the account “just in case.” But that’s silly. We just don’t get that much value out of it. For years, we keep hearing the TV folks insisting that such cord cutting is largely a myth. But the fact is my wife and I are not alone in this. A new report says that we’re actually a bit behind the curve, and that people are cancelling in droves.
Of course, the Associated Press buys the TV industry’s very questionable claim that it’s all because of “the economy.”
The chief cause appears to be persistently high unemployment and a housing market that has many people living with their parents, reducing the need for a separate cable bill.
I don’t buy it. I would bet that a lot of folks cancelling are like us. We can afford it, but we just don’t see the value. We don’t watch enough to want to pay the rates that seem way out of line with what we’re getting and using. Even more ridiculous, though, is that the AP mentions this kind of reasoning as a problem rather than an opportunity for the industry:
But it’s also possible that people are canceling cable, or never signing up in the first place, because they’re watching cheap Internet video. Such a threat has been hanging over the industry. If that’s the case, viewers can expect more restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they produce.
Wait, what? Because more people want more convenient options, they should expect to get less of them? This is the logic of dying businesses (both the TV folks and the AP). Restricting people doesn’t help you get paid. Giving people what they want and putting a smart business model around it does.