Surveys stir new pay TV cord-cutting fears

Surveys from the Consumer Electronics Association and Credit Suisse suggest that cable TV companies could lose 10 percent of their subscribers and 10 percent of their revenue from growing interest in over-the-top video options like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), and could lose even more if Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) releases its own connected HDTV.

To some extent, the prediction may play into what the CEA would like to believe, but one can't deny that the OTT success of Netflix and growing evidence of pay TV cord-cutting among younger consumers has many wondering how soon the cable TV industry will experience a deeper dent in its armor.

Could connected TV from Apple be the tipping point? A CNBC story on the new surveys points out that the content industry is not going to let the world change too much until it is assured of getting its proper cut. The more success OTT has--and the more it strives for--the more it will have to realize that the content guys are holding all the best cards when it comes time to renew current content rights.

For more:
- see this CNBC report

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