As many as 7 million people might cut the cord once HBO launches its new streaming service later this year. At least that's how a market research firm read the numbers from its recent online survey.
Such a mass exodus, if it were to occur, would be a huge blow to pay TV companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV. About 100 million households in the U.S. subscribe to TV.
But don’t set your timers to mass cable exodus just yet. The report from Dallas-based market researcher Parks Associates is based on an online survey of 10,000 people in U.S. homes with broadband access from late last year. And even Parks Associates suggests this drastic scenario might not actually happen.
"Just because somebody says on a survey that they're going to do something doesn't mean they actually are," Glenn Hower, a research analyst at Parks Associates, told The Huffington Post. "We have some doubts that 7 million households are going to say, ‘Well, I can get HBO so [I'm going to cut my cable] service."'
From the article "Standalone HBO Could Inspire Millions To Ditch Cable, Survey Says" by Timothy Stenovec.
