The Decline and Fall of Cable TV

[monk222]

[T]he people who tend to not ever sign up for cable are young -- and the youth is the future. Americans ages 12 to 34 are spending less time in front of the TV, found another Neilsen study. As of February 2012, for three quarters in a row, there have been declines in viewing among Americans under 35, The New York Times' Brian Stelter reports. He attributes this decline to a shift to streaming. "Young people are still watching the same shows, but they are streaming them on computers and phones," he writes. Right now the cable industry has maintained stable subscription rates because of an elderly population that's watching television more, adds Stelter. But, those people won't be around to change the future. The broke twenty-somethings who survive off of Hulu, Netflix, bootleg streams of their favorite shows, and stealing each others' HBO Go passwords now, might get used to a life without paying for cable, causing a generational shift in the way Americans consume things.

-- Sully's Dish