Reviewed.com: Are you ready to cut the cord?
- The cost of streaming can be substantially lower than traditional cable each month
- Streaming certain types of content%2C like sports%2C may cost extra
- Nielsen has started rating TV shows in %22Zero-TV%22 households that primarily stream video
Are you ready to cut the cord?
That's a question many consumers are asking as streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video continue to mature. Already, millions of Americans have completely dropped cable and satellite TV in favor of a streaming-only diet.
It's not hard to see why people are looking for ways to ditch their cable bill. A recent study by the NPD Group determined that the average monthly cost of pay TV in the U.S. hit $86 in 2011 and is projected to rise to $123 by 2015. That's on top of broadband Internet access, which can chew up anywhere from $20 to $205 per month, when it isn't bundled with a cable subscription.
In contrast, Netflix and Hulu Plus cost just $7.99 monthly. Amazon's video service is bundled into its Prime membership, which runs $79 per year. Add the three together and you're looking at about $22.50 for monthly access to a massive combined catalog of movies and TV shows. And these are just the most prominent out of dozens of competing streaming services.
Recognizing a steep upswing in viewership of streaming media, ratings service Nielsen has begun to pay special attention to what it calls "Zero-TV" households. Though it refers to them as a "small group," Nielsen says that these cord-cutters now account for more than 5 million homes, up from just over 2 million in 2007.
But 5 million is barely a drop in the vast sea of the 115.6 million TV-watching households in America. Netflix alone claims nearly 29.2 million customers, many of whom are presumably also cable subscribers. So why do so many pay for both cable and streaming, rather than making a clean break?
Sports: Licensing fees for sports coverage are a huge factor in the cost of cable TV packages, and fans looking to cut the cord might find that it's not much cheaper to watch their favorite games a la carte.
Streaming packages for pro sports cost between $15 and $30 per month, depending on the league. A subscription nets you some features you can't get on cable, like on-demand libraries of past games, enhanced stats, and alternative audio feeds. But there's a big downside: Restrictive blackout rules leave many cord-cutters without a viable way to watch home games.
Premium channels: While shows from most cable channels are available through streaming services, premium channels like Showtime and HBO require users to buy a cable or satellite subscription package to stream their series.
HBO is particularly stingy about making its shows available online—so the only way that cord-cutters can legally watch Game of Thrones is to wait for the Blu-ray release.
Usability: Chances are, you already own at least one device that can handle streaming video. Set-top boxes, smart TVs, mobile devices, and game consoles all fit the bill. But it's more difficult than you'd think to find one device that can access all the services you want.
Even the most popular options are handicapped by licensing issues and territorial disputes among tech companies. Apple TV, for example, doesn't have an app for Amazon's video service. Why? There's no official word, but it probably doesn't help that the two are direct competitors in the tablet market.
Ultimately, many consumers still think of streaming video as a side dish to the main course of cable (or satellite) TV. Cable remains successful because it's easy to use, and almost all of the best shows are there first.
Streaming services offer greater depth, variety, and flexibility, but there's no denying that they're more of a hassle to work with—particularly if the device you have on hand doesn't cover all the bases.
Until that changes, cable companies can breathe easy.
For more product reviews and news, visit Reviewed.com, a division of USA TODAY, and follow @ReviewedDotCom on Twitter.