Cord Cutting Less Of A Worry

A CNBC story tells us that research from SNL Kagan indicates that "a flattening pace of cord-cutting and a projected broadband boost of 8 million subscribers over the next 10 years, media companies are quickly shifting the way their content gets delivered to consumers."  Truth is, the best way to stream is with broadband.  The cost of data from cellular, mainly because of plans that charge by the gigabyte, makes an impact on the household.  Households may not be buying higher packages of cable, but they are still getting the basic cable package and bundling broadband.  With a broadband package, consumers have wireless accessibility for tablets and smartphones.  And they get authenticated access to wireless outside the home.  In the Northeast Xfinity, Optimum, Time Warner Cable and others have been building out their wireless platforms to support their subscribers. 

Consumers have been moving toward streaming as a preferred way to view content.  Streaming both cable and OTT content to watch on all their devices.  NBC has just announced that they have already served over 1 billion streams of Olympic content.  Time Warner Inc. made a big investment in Hulu, a streaming subscription service.  And Disney/ESPN are finally looking at a streaming subscription package for their sports content. 

The success of broadband enables cable companies to drive bundling packages in a way to keep households connected to cable TV as they drive broadband subscription growth.  And per the report, the strategy has kept cord cutting from becoming a bigger issue.