Survey Shows Pay TV Still Strong

A majority of Americans plan to plan to keep cable and satellite subscriptions despite the country’s economic downturn, according to a nationwide survey done by Pike & Fischer, a Silver Spring, Md. market research company.

The study indicated that nearly 70 percent of those responding said they planned to maintain pay television service. Just two out of the 600 surveyed indicated they would be dropping such video services in order to cut monthly expenses.

"The results indicate that consumers appear to be willing to continue paying for cable or satellite TV, despite the fact that they can get a vast amount of shows for free or very low cost on services like Hulu and Veoh," said Scott Sleek, director of Pike &Fischer's Broadband Advisory Services. "But they don't appear to be willing to spend any extra money for premium channels or on-demand movies. And they're increasingly willing to go to the Internet to watch their favorite shows."

The survey did reveal that nearly 15 percent of viewers are planning to trim premium channels in order to lower their monthly bills, however. Just eight percent said they would be upgrading to extras such premium tiers or high-definition services.