HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is the most pirated show on television. How does the cable network feel about that? Not bad, actually. The show’s second season recently experienced record-setting DVD sales for the network, even as it was 2012’s most illegally downloaded show. According to HBO programming president Michael Lombardo, this is viewed as a positive, especially since it doesn’t seem to adversely affect sales. Continue reading Game of Thrones: Most Pirated Show Remains Lucrative

Amidst shrinking numbers, Dish Network chief Charlie Ergen isn’t sugar coating anything. He’s concerned about the long-term fate of the company’s core subscription TV business and sees cord-cutting as a growing trend. Dish’s recent earnings plunge was largely because of a $700 million settlement with Cablevision in October, along with rising programming costs. Even so, his biggest concern is how younger consumers are taking in content. Continue reading Dish Network Chief Exec Talks Realities of Cord-Cutting

According to journalist Michael Wolff, cable is on a fast track to oblivion with an unsustainable business model. Currently, cable operators pay media companies to carry their cable channels, then pass the costs onto customers in the form of large bundled cable bills. After that, cable channels get to sell advertising. But as viewing habits change and new options become available, consumers are increasingly abandoning the traditional model. Continue reading TV Viewing Trends: Is Cable On the Fast Track to Oblivion?

According to a survey conducted by financial services firm Cowen & Co., about 23 percent of Netflix subscribers say they have canceled their premium TV service after opting to pay for broadband access to stream TV over the Internet — signifying a direct tie to cord-cutting. Among the 1,200 respondents, 46 percent said they have access to Netflix, while 28 percent are paying for the SVOD service. Continue reading Numbers Are In: Survey Says Netflix Leads to Cord-Cutting

Traditional television viewing continues its decline, according to new charts published by Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne and his team. The charts show the “long, slow decline of old-fashioned broadcast and cable TV, and the number of ad dollars chasing the dinosaur medium,” writes Business Insider. According to the numbers, there has been a 50 percent decline in broadcast TV audience ratings since 2002. Continue reading Is Decline of Broadcast TV to Blame for High Cable Bills?

UK pay TV company BSkyB will begin offering its Sky Sports content on a per-day basis for people interested in watching a particular event, or in sampling programming on Sky Sports. Customers can pay £9.99 ($15.80) for 24 hours of Sky Sports coverage. “This will mark the first time that consumers will be able to watch BSkyB’s premium sports content on a pay-as-you go basis without a pay TV subscription,” notes The Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading BSkyB to Offer Sky Sports Access on Per Day Basis Online

Tivli understands that young adults today are not watching TV in the traditional manner, but instead they are taking in programming via streaming subscriptions and other online alternatives. The startup is an “attempt to adapt to the ways young people increasingly want to watch TV — through a computer or tablet or video game console — while keeping the existing cable model intact,” reports The New York Times. Continue reading Streaming TV Arrives on Campus, Could Prevent Cord-Cutting

According to a new study from research firm GfK Media, consumers are streaming online video more than ever before, but only a reported 17 percent of pay TV subscribers have watched cable programming online using TV Everywhere services. The study represents the “latest bad news” for the TV Everywhere initiative, reports the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading New Research Indicates TV Everywhere is Not Yet Everywhere

According to Variety, 2012 was more about what didn’t happen than what did happen when considering the intersection of TV and digital media. As the multichannel world continues “begging for disruption,” the cost of the “average pay-TV subscription has skyrocketed 68 percent over the past 10 years,” notes the article. It seems something will definitely have to give, “but despite the fragility of their delicate bond, programmers and distributors didn’t face any real challenge in 2012 from any of the expected upstarts hoping to gain rights to live TV and package it in more innovative ways.” Continue reading In a Multichannel World, Pay TV Fought its Future in 2012

As alternatives to traditional cable TV services continue to be introduced, the discourse grows regarding whether or not consumers are ready to “cut the cord.” Recent data from ESPN and research firm SNL Kagan suggests that any cable subscriber losses are being offset by gains elsewhere. However, as a percentage, fewer households are subscribing to cable than in the previous year. And financial services firm Stifel Nicolaus recently reported that pay TV might not be making a comeback over the longer term. The research report indicates year-over-year subscriber growth was at a mere 0.3 percent during 2010 — “the lowest year-over-year growth on record.”

According to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King: “Cable operators have been quick to point to housing and the anniversary of the nationwide digital transition in 2009 as reasons for recent subscriber declines; however, our analysis suggests that growth in the pay TV market has underperformed household formation in recent quarters and the impact of the 2009 digital transition should no longer be an issue.”

The pay TV market is over-saturated (at more than 84 percent of households), and while many continue to blame the state of the economy and the saturation on the declining numbers, it is interesting to note that Netflix added 6.4 million subscribers during 2010. As the cost of pay TV subscriptions continue to rise, consumers are beginning to “further re-evaluate the value they place on traditional pay TV services which bodes well for the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV among others,” King wrote in the report.

Editor’s Note: For those interested, the GigaOM post “Cord Cutting Threat Ain’t Over Yet” features some very interesting charts including Pay TV Subscriber Growth 3Q09-4Q10, Pay TV Penetration 4Q06-4Q10, and Netflix Subscriber Growth 2010 (as compared to Pay TV).