About 33 percent of people who have “cut the cord” on their video entertainment subscriptions would not buy again, even if prices were cut in half, a study by TechBargains.com has found.
That opinion illustrates the level of growing dissatisfaction with video entertainment services sold by cable, satellite and telco TV providers, at least in some consumer segments.
Despite the fact that 83 percent of surveyed cord cutters abandoned their video entertainment services because of the “high cost,” even a price cut in half would not be enough to entice many cord cutters to buy again.
Significantly, the study also suggests that video entertainment services are not even viewed as providing the best quality and variety of programming by 17 percent of people who disconnected their cable TV or satellite TV services. For an industry that claims to provide the best quality and variety, that is a problem.
Another possibly-significant finding is that consumers who abandoned their fixed network phone service were two times more likely to eliminate their cable TV or satellite TV subscription than those who have not disconnected their home telephone.
Of respondents who have gotten rid of their landline, 36 percent also discontinued their cable TV or satellite TV service. Of respondents who still have their landlines, 19 percent have cut the cable cord.
The survey found that 60 percent of respondents no longer have a landline telephone.
The survey also found that 57 percent of people that still have a landline voice service do not plan to disconnect their landline in the next year. That statistic might be only mildly reassuring, since it suggests that 43 percent might cut the cord on their fixed network voice service within a year or two.
It might be instructive, though, to keep in mind that the respondents likely are younger users, might be users who are strongly motivated to “save money” or who are less committed to video entertainment services because they do not value it as much as other users.
But the survey also suggests that a growing number of consumers do not want to buy video entertainment services. Price is not the primary objection; they simply do not want to buy the product.