Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

USA Today

Cutting the cord: Dish's Sling TV could win older fans

Combine Sling TV with HBO's as-yet-undefined standalone Net service — and your choice of Amazon, Hulu or Netflix — and cord-cutting probably becomes even more attractive.

Nearly one in five broadband homes (17%) are likely to subscribe to HBO's service, which is due to begin operation this year, according to research firm Parks Associates. Many (91%) of those broadband homes are also pay-TV customers, and half would cancel pay TV once they get the new HBO service, the firm found.

"The percentage of subscribers interested in (Net-delivered, over-the-top) video services is trending upward, and more industry players are planning to launch their own OTT services," says Parks' research analyst Glenn Hower.

Although Net TV can be watched on computers, tablets and smartphones, viewing on TV remains important. But, Hower said, "the age of appointment television is coming to a close, and programming will need to adapt to an on-demand environment."

From the article "Cutting the cord: Dish's Sling TV could win older fans" by Mike Snider.

Previously In The News

As wireless hot spots proliferate, commercial windfall in doubt.

And Parks Associates, a market research firm in Dallas, recently found that only 3% of Internet users have logged on through Wi-Fi hot spots. Only 5% of that small group took out a subscription to a...

Runner-up wireless standard tries for phone market.

It also returns HomeRF to an effort it began as early as 1998 — to convince consumers that advanced telephone services made HomeRF products worth buying, said Kurt Scherf, the vice president of rese...

New technologies make for smarter homes,

IBM recently aired a television commercial that featured a repairman arriving at a house unannounced. A futuristic refrigerator with smart technology did a self-diagnostic test, uncovered a problem,...

Second Screen creates a 'Bambi' for multitaskers

Last November, Verizon launched its Flex View feature that lets video-on-demand customers watch movies on TV, computers and mobile devices. "Whether it's a standard or studios do it individually, wh...