Survey: Rate Hikes Fuel Pay TV Subscriber Discontent

While just 0.8% of pay TV subscribers surveyed said they
canceled their cable or satellite TV service in the last 12 months, steady
price increases are a major factor prompting millions to ponder pulling the
plug, according to a new study.

The survey, commissioned by video search and discovery
vendor Digitalsmiths, found that about 80% of pay TV customers are satisfied
with the value provided by their current provider.

Of the 20% of respondents who were dissatisfied, 68% cited
increasing fees as a reason they were unhappy. About 45.5% of all pay TV
customers said their cable, satellite or telco TV bills were higher than a year
ago; 38.9% pay about the same and 16.6% said their bills had gone down.

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Pay TV providers are acutely aware of the issue and are
struggling to find ways to address it. Most recently, Cablevision
Systems this week sued Viacom
, alleging the media company's wholesale
bundling violated antitrust laws; Viacom responded that the MSO was trying to
use the courts to renegotiate their December 2012 carriage deal.

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here to read the full story at Multichannel News.

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