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HBO and Other Pay-TV Channels Are Shedding Customers, but Another Market Segment Is Booming

Jan 21, 2014  •  Post A Comment

HBO and other premium cable channels are losing customers, but at the same time another market segment is growing. Citing a report from the NPD Group, the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town reports that Netflix and other online video services are gaining subscribers.

The number of U.S. households paying for a premium TV channel has slipped 6% during the past two years. At the same time, Netflix and its rivals have seen subscriptions grow by 4%.

"It’s fair to say … that some of the shift that you’re seeing is probably caused by Netflix," said Russ Crupnick, a senior vice president of the NPD Group. "Some of this could be caused by the economy. It could be people looking at their cable bills and saying, ‘I can’t afford this.’"

About 27% of U.S. homes now subscribe to digital on-demand video services such as Hulu Plus, Netflix or Amazon Prime, the story says. About one-third pay to watch a premium cable channel such as HBO.

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