Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says

Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says - Yahoo! News: "Make no mistake: The big cable, satellite, and telco carriers are still sitting pretty with more than 100 million TV subscribers. Nevertheless, a new report claims that more and more viewers are 'cutting the cord' in favor of watching their favorite shows via over-the-air antennas (remember those?), Netflix, or the Web.

TechCrunch has the scoop on a new report from the Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group, and though the figures may not be a 'serious threat' to the big cable and satellite carriers yet, the trend might eventually spell trouble for the like of Cablevision, Comcast, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable.

To wit: Nearly 800,000 households in the U.S. have 'cut the cord,' dumping their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers (such as AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS) and turning instead to Web-based videos (like Hulu), downloadable shows (iTunes), by-mail subscription services (Netflix), or even good ol' over-the-air antennas for their favorite shows, according to the report.

Now, as TechCrunch points out, the estimated 800,000 cord cutters represent less than 1 percent of the 100 million U.S. households (give or take) currently subscribing to a cable/satellite/telco TV carrier, so it's not like we're talking a mass exodus here. But by the end of 2011, the report guesstimates, the number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. will double to about 1.6 million, and if the trend continues, well..."

Comcast's NBC talks cap its decades-long rise

By AP: Yahoo! Tech (CLICK to read more)

"Ralph Roberts knew he was onto something big when people ran after his cable TV trucks in Tupelo, Miss., asking for a visit to their homes.

It was 1963. Roberts had been looking for new ventures after selling his belt-and-suspenders company. He bought American Cable Systems for $500,000 — an opportunity that had been mentioned to him by a business acquaintance he came across while strolling down a Philadelphia street.

American Cable Systems, which served 1,200 subscribers, was one of many independent companies arising at the dawn of the cable TV industry: It strung up cable to carry television broadcasts to homes that couldn't get clear reception over the free airwaves.

'It just looked to me like a wonderful business. Without doing too much, you just put up an antenna, ran some cables and people paid you $5 a month ... to bring in TV stations,' he said in a corporate video produced this year. 'It's marvelous because people love TV, and more is better.'

Today the descendant of that small cable system — Comcast Corp. — still believes people want more TV. And Comcast might be about to get lots of it.

Comcast is close to sealing a deal to take control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. in a transaction ultimately expected to be worth $30 billion. If regulators approve, Comcast would be one of the nation's largest entertainment companies."