More Americans Are Now Paying Cable Companies for Internet Connectivity Than for TV Service

Convergence conquers. More Americans are now buying internet services from cable companies than they are the cable tv channels those companies were originally created to provide.

Telecoms and satellite providers have been cutting into the cable cos' market share for years now, but the intersecting trend lines confirm a strategic tipping point that may signify as much about costs as viewing habits.

Marketers and content providers have long tried to discern how consumers will make sense of the options they have when it comes to viewing, interacting and purchasing the array of available services.

The significance of this milestone may say less about the relative popularity of cable versus internet or cable versus telecom than it does about the declining difference between internet and television. At some point, this infers, they will become indistinguishable, a future in anticipation of which providers are already jockeying. JL

Zachary Seward reports in Quartz:

As more television watching moves to the internet, the distinction between the two will matter less

You can now officially think of American cable companies as internet service providers with a declining side business in television.

At the end of June, the number of people subscribing to broadband internet from the nine largest US cable companies (49,915,000) exceeded the number of television subscribers (49,910,000) for the first time. That’s according to a new tally by Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group.

The milestone is significant, if not surprising. Cable companies like Comcast have been losing TV subscribers for many years now, as people cut the cord or opt for service from telecoms like Verizon and satellite companies like DirecTV.

However, the cable industry has remained strong as those companies supplant their lost business with new internet subscribers, who are paying more than ever. The average price of Time Warner Cable’s internet service is up 20% over the past two years, to $47 a month.

And as more television watching moves to the internet, the distinction between the two will matter less. For cable companies, the data travels over the same pipes, and even cord cutters still tend to require internet service. Which is one reason internet bills are likely to keep rising.