Pay-TV Users Spend $1,600 a Year for Channels Not Watched: Study

Cable and satellite TV customers spend $1,600 a year on unwatched TV channels, up more than $500 from 2019, said a Wednesday CordCutting.com study. The average pay-TV customer has access to 190 channels but regularly watches only 15, vs. 11 in 2019, which averages out to $9.57 per channel watched, it said. About 80% of cable/satellite users watch five or more channels; 47% watch 10 or more; 24% watch 20-plus and 13% watch 30 or more, it said. The average cable TV monthly bill has risen 52% in the past three years from $96 to $147, it said. Cordcutting.com noted channels such as ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are available for free without a cable or satellite package. About 37% of cable/satellite TV subscribers find good value in their subscription; 45% would cancel if it weren’t tied to their internet service, it said. Over two-thirds of millennials and Generation Z cable or satellite TV users also pay for a streaming service vs. 57% of Gen X and 44% of baby boomers, the study said. The study of 507 people in the U.S. who paid for cable or satellite service was fielded in May. The percentage of Americans watching cable or satellite TV dropped by over 20 points from 2015 to 2021, with another 4.7 million households cutting the cord last year alone, said Managing Editor Stephen Lovely.