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Cable TV viewing numbers show drastic audience decline

There is an obvious conclusion here, and one that cable providers were in denial over until it was too late to save themselves ... linear cable, like linear OTA, can never compete with streaming services that let you access specific programming whenever you want.

And they sort of brought it on themselves when they invented on demand pay-per-view.
 
michael hagerty said:
Here's what you use to do the math:

www.pewresearch.org

83% of U.S. adults use streaming services, far fewer subscribe to cable or satellite TV

Americans’ use of streaming services varies by age and income, but it’s still relatively common across groups.
www.pewresearch.org www.pewresearch.org
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Interesting study. But looks like the 65+ crowd is keeping cable alive and those channels, as they are the ones who use cable and don't use streaming as much. Also interesting that higher income people use streaming more than lower, as you'd think they would gravitate to FAST options on a budget, if that counts as streaming.
 
tall_guy1 said:
Interesting study. But looks like the 65+ crowd is keeping cable alive and those channels, as they are the ones who use cable and don't use streaming as much.
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The cable industry is feeling less like an entertainment venue and more like bandits opportunistically looting nest eggs with ever-racheting fees, knowing many retirement-aged folks mire themselves in old technology for fear of change.
 
tall_guy1 said:
Interesting study. But looks like the 65+ crowd is keeping cable alive and those channels, as they are the ones who use cable and don't use streaming as much. Also interesting that higher income people use streaming more than lower, as you'd think they would gravitate to FAST options on a budget, if that counts as streaming.
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yeoldeschool said:
The cable industry is feeling less like an entertainment venue and more like bandits opportunistically looting nest eggs with ever-racheting fees, knowing many retirement-aged folks mire themselves in old technology for fear of change.
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You're both overlooking something. Many seniors retire to 55+ communities where there is a condominium-like (or co-op like) structure, complete with common fees for services like water, sewer, landscaping, common-area maintenance, and, yes, cable TV. Those homeowner associations/condo boards (or the management companies that the condo boards contract with for professional services) cut exclusive deals with the cable MSO in their area, or a satellite company like DirecTV, or a build-over cable/internet service provider. Then the company wires all the homes in the development for their services. If you're a homeowner, they can't prevent you from ordering a competing service, but then you're paying twice for the same services. That's a big reason so many older people hang onto cable, because they literally can't drop it.
 
Weiserguy said:
You're both overlooking something. Many seniors retire to 55+ communities where there is a condominium-like (or co-op like) structure, complete with common fees for services like water, sewer, landscaping, common-area maintenance, and, yes, cable TV. Those homeowner associations/condo boards (or the management companies that the condo boards contract with for professional services) cut exclusive deals with the cable MSO in their area, or a satellite company like DirecTV, or a build-over cable/internet service provider. Then the company wires all the homes in the development for their services. If you're a homeowner, they can't prevent you from ordering a competing service, but then you're paying twice for the same services. That's a big reason so many older people hang onto cable, because they literally can't drop it.
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Bingo. Give 'em a choice, and you'd be surprised how many of them already have a favorite HMDI port in their smart TV to put their Roku or Amazon Fire stick into.

For people under 50 reading this---as hard as it is to believe, 55+ isn't a bunch of technophobes trying to find all-day reruns of Murder She Wrote.

Today's 60-year-old:

*Was born in 1965

*Graduated high school in 1983

*Graduated college in 1987


If you're computer-literate, you're streaming literate. I'm nine years older than that example and I've been computer literate for 32 years.

Not only did I have to be for work, but ours was the first generation of parents that was told the kids had to have a computer in the house to be successful in school. And then there were the video games.

We all age, but we all age differently, and I'm not the same in not just some, but most ways, as a guy my age 20 years ago.
 
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michael hagerty said:
Bingo. Give 'em a choice, and you'd be surprised how many of them already have a favorite HMDI port in their smart TV to put their Roku or Amazon Fire stick into.

For people under 50 reading this---as hard as it is to believe, 55+ isn't a bunch of technophobes trying to find all-day reruns of Murder She Wrote.

Today's 60-year-old:

*Was born in 1965

*Graduated high school in 1983

*Graduated college in 1987


If you're computer-literate, you're streaming literate. I'm nine years older than that example and I've been computer literate for 32 years.

Not only did I have to be for work, but ours was the first generation of parents that was told the kids had to have a computer in the house to be successful in school. And then there were the video games.

We all age, but we all age differently, and I'm not the same in not just some, but most ways, as a guy my age 20 years ago.
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The only challenging thing for me about technology...is when something goes awry, and then trying to troubleshoot and resolve a problem. Although usually, a reset of the router /fire stick does the trick.

Technology is GREAT, until it stops working, I think this is when older folks yearn for the simple days of just pushing a button on the TV set or clicking the remote and watching analog TV with rabbit ears.
 
KilowattKat said:
The only challenging thing for me about technology...is when something goes awry, and then trying to troubleshoot and resolve a problem. Although usually, a reset of the router /fire stick does the trick.
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You just answered your own question. 99% of issues can be solved with a reboot. Turn it off and turn it back on again.


KilowattKat said:
Technology is GREAT, until it stops working,
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Again, not a big fix most of the time.

KilowattKat said:
I think this is when older folks yearn for the simple days of just pushing a button on the TV set or clicking the remote and watching analog TV with rabbit ears.
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Like how much "older"? 95?

You're still using a remote. You're lighting up a large, easy-to-read, instantaneously recognizable icon (this is what I could find online...mine's better):


5de80fb1fd9db24135579776.jpeg

Instead of scrolling through vertical and horizontal Iines to select a show on cable:


9PpeFnh.jpg

And as for rabbit ears and a limited number of channels forcing you to watch (or miss) shows on their schedule---those weren't the good old days.
 
michael hagerty said:
You just answered your own question. 99% of issues can be solved with a reboot. Turn it off and turn it back on again.




Again, not a big fix most of the time.



Like how much "older"? 95?

You're still using a remote. You're lighting up a large, easy-to-read, instantaneously recognizable icon (this is what I could find online...mine's better):


View attachment 10757

Instead of scrolling through vertical and horizontal Iines to select a show on cable:


View attachment 10758

And as for rabbit ears and a limited number of channels forcing you to watch (or miss) shows on their schedule---those weren't the good old days.
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Totally agree, you're preaching to the choir. It's more than an age thing.

What's a nice way of putting it.. there is a segment of the population that is either illiterate, or has had a limited exposure to technology, or perhaps the person is just plain dumb. Your going to always have a segment of society that will still need the old way of doing things.

Fo example, I know of an older person in their 80's who still watches TV on a 30 year old analog set with an analog to HD converter box that they received from a $40 government rebate.
 
KilowattKat said:
Totally agree, you're preaching to the choir. It's more than an age thing.

What's a nice way of putting it.. there is a segment of the population that is either illiterate, or has had a limited exposure to technology, or perhaps the person is just plain dumb. Your going to always have a segment of society that will still need the old way of doing things.

Fo example, I know of an older person in their 80's who still watches TV on a 30 year old analog set with an analog to HD converter box that they received from a $40 government rebate.
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If I didn't spring a few years ago for a $250 flat-screen TV for my folks, they'd be doing exactly that.

In their mid-80's, they simply do not feel a compelling need to change. Still OTA, and that'll only change when ATSC 1.0 is dropped for 3.0.

I've offered to share my YouTubeTV subscription...if it takes more than pressing the ON/OFF button to see something, nope, not interested.
 
And can we agree that there’s a big difference between “over 55” and “in their mid-80s” and that 3.5% of the population is over 79, so it’s not a major deal for the industry?
 
KilowattKat said:
Fo example, I know of an older person in their 80's who still watches TV on a 30 year old analog set with an analog to HD converter box that they received from a $40 government rebate.
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people that age came from a time when things were built to last and tech moved slower, they paid good money for that CRT tv in the 90s
 
KilowattKat said:
Fo example, I know of an older person in their 80's who still watches TV on a 30 year old analog set with an analog to HD converter box that they received from a $40 government rebate.
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I kept my old 25" Panasonic analog set for a few years after the digital transition ended, but it was connected to a TiVo that had an infrared device on a cable which, when aimed at the converter, could change its channel for recording.

It wasn't until TiVo announced the end of support for that model -- and offered a newer HD-ready unit at a discount and let me move my lifetime subscription to it -- that I ditched the old set ... because the new TiVo's menus didn't display properly on it.

But I think I still have my old converter box somewhere around here ... why, I have no idea. (The newer TiVo, which is still chugging along, was designed for OTA digital, with four tuners.)
 
michael hagerty said:
You're still using a remote. You're lighting up a large, easy-to-read, instantaneously recognizable icon (this is what I could find online...mine's better):
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Your example is amusing to me. One of the first things I taught a neighbor about their new Roku was what the box around an icon meant, because they didn't find it self-evident. I honestly don't think they noticed it at all until I pointed it out to them.

These neighbors are in their mid 70s, so they definitely had to work with computer interfaces in the workplace. I suspect they only learned the minimum of what they had to learn for their job.
 
KilowattKat said:
Isn't cable pretty much only just for hospitals and hotel rooms these days. I don't know of a single person who still has cable in their home.
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Not so. I have cable as it is still the only easy way for everyone in the household to get local TV news on an actual TV set.

I've spoken with the GM at the "better" local TV operation, and they are working on integrating with an easy to use on demand app for our "intelligent" TVs that is pretty much "one click" to get their channels (ABC, CBS, Fox, Telelmundo, etc).

Where I am in the Palm Springs market, nearly all (over 90%) of the HOA administered communities include cable in the monthly fee.
 
davideduardo said:
Not so. I have cable as it is still the only easy way for everyone in the household to get local TV news on an actual TV set.

I've spoken with the GM at the "better" local TV operation, and they are working on integrating with an easy to use on demand app for our "intelligent" TVs that is pretty much "one click" to get their channels (ABC, CBS, Fox, Telelmundo, etc).

Where I am in the Palm Springs market, nearly all (over 90%) of the HOA administered communities include cable in the monthly fee.
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Is the cable included in your HOA monthly fee due to not being allowed to have aerial antennas on your rooftop?
 


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