Verizon Joins Cord Cutting Parade, Loses 17,000 TV Customers → Half a million in one quarter....

2015 saw 1.1 million cut the cord.
2016 saw 1.4 million cut the cord.

We're only halfway through the year, and we have already surpassed that 1.1 million mark of 2015, with well over half a million in subscriber losses with all the major players, and several (including Dish Networks) have not announced yet....

I would not be surprised to see this year's total number reach 2 million at this point, but around 1.8 million seems very likely.

I know it is partially the media companies who are to blame, refusing to allow people to subscribe to individual channels and forcing the cable companies to take on bundles of their channels. But the problem here is that entities like Viacom and Discovery/Scripps are thinking of offering their own channel and/or streaming services directly to the public, cutting out the cable companies altogether. Granted, that will also be a bundle of all of their channels and programming, but it becomes a lot easier to cut streaming packages when you don't use them with individual packages like that, allowing you to save a lot of money in the long run.

If the cable companies don't start making changes that will appease the customer, they will eventually become irrelevant as a subscription TV company, and will become broadband-only companies. The media companies will offer their channels and programming directly to the public over the internet, eliminating one of the middle-men, and allowing consumers to choose both their devices and their location (to a point, need decent internet and typically within US borders for US services) for their service at any time.

The flexibility that streaming packages offer is getting greater and greater, and the offerings of "channels in a grid guide with a DVR" are getting slimmer and slimmer.... and more expensive.

The more consumers leave, the fatter the price increase will probably be in Jan 2018, so those staying on cable: Prepare to bend over just a bit more than last year's rape.

I read something yesterday that the Hallmark Channel is coming out with a streaming-only option for this network. The price is $6/month. Who the heck is going to pay 6 bucks for the Hallmark Channel.

Those who like Hallmark channel and not the 100 other cables channels they may pay for now to get Hallmark.

That's what people don't understand about a la carte. If you like more than just a few channels, having to pay their rate vs the rate when spread across a lot of consumers makes you pay the same for less available content.