Cord cutting is more than a U.S. phenomenon; it's a big deal in Canada as well, where Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and other over-the-top content providers are taking a bite out of the pay TV business.
That's the word from Canadian-based Convergence Consulting Group which said, among other things, 1.55 million total North American subscribers trimmed the cable cord between 2008 and 2010 and that the number could reach 2.07 million by the end of 2011, even though cable operators in both Canada and the U.S. have increasingly embraced the idea of placing content online--for a fee.
The cord-cutting trend could also be impacted by broadcasters' increasing reliance on retransmission fees and online rights from pay TV services, the report continued, so "the nature of free (online) will begin to change in 2011-2012" as the number of online advertising minutes increases, viewing windows will expand "or the show/episode will no longer be made available online for free--hence more walled garden requiring a paid subscription or only available for a fee."
For more:
- see this report summary (PDF)
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