Netflix cutting into the pay TV market, report says

A new Leichtman Research Group poll found that 48 percent of U.S. households that don't subscribe to pay TV now pay a monthly Netflix bill, up from just 29 percent in 2012 and 16 percent in 2010.

Further suggesting that the leading over-the-top programming service is eroding the pay TV market, LRG's telephone-based "Emerging Video Services VIII" study, conducted with 1,211 U.S. adults in April, found that the number of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) households that also fork out a monthly pay TV bill also declined to 80 percent, after coming in at 85 percent in 2012 and 88 percent in 2010.

Over this four-year span, Netflix has more than doubled its global subscriber base from just over 20 million to nearly 50 million today.

Overall, 24 percent of U.S. households watch Internet programming on their televisions at least once a week, up from 13 percent two years ago and just 5 percent in 2010. And fully 47 percent of households subscribe to either Netflix, Amazon Prime (NASDAQ: AMZN) or Hulu Plus, or a combination of these subscription video on demand services.

Another interesting LRG nugget: 15 percent of Netflix users admit to sharing their authentication info with others outside the home.

Of course, news of Netflix's ongoing intrusion into the pay-TV market comes as the SVOD company continues to battle pay TV conglomerates over broadband infrastructure issues.

Netflix further fueled the kerfuffle Monday when it released its latest ISP rankings, showing that Netflix streaming performance actually declined on the Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Verizon FiOS (NYSE: VZ) networks in May, despite the establishment of peering deals with both network operators.

In regard to its particularly pointed issue with Verizon, Netflix said it would stop feeding messages to the buffering screens of its subscribers, telling them their ISP is to blame for their slow performance, but only after a campaign period for such messaging ends June 16.

Late last week, Verizon sent a cease and desist letter to Netflix demanding that the company stop issuing those messages immediately.

Also of note regarding Netflix: Investors at the company's annual shareholder's meeting Monday voted down a measure that would strip CEO Reed Hastings of his chairman title. 

For more:
- see this LRG release
- see this DSL Reports story
- and this story
- see this Light Reading story
- see this Ars Technica story

Related links:
Verizon FiOS speed drops in Netflix ISP index, despite peering deal
Netflix investors look to strip Hastings of chairmanship
Verizon ramps up Netflix tiff with cease and desist letter