The Los Angeles Times reports the unsurprising news that more TV viewers may be cutting the cord this year, as a torrent — get it? — of television-ready gadgets hit store shelves this year:
For entertainment industry executives, Internet video’s migration from the PC to the TV presents opportunities as well as fresh headaches. It opens the market to a new crop of distributors willing to pay top dollar for licensing rights to TV shows and movies. But it also causes friction with cable, satellite and telecommunications carriers, which pay $30 billion annually to deliver video into the home.
[...]
Nonetheless, Internet TVs began gathering retail momentum this year, as 1 in 4 high-definition televisions sold in the U.S. provided Internet capability, according to researcher Parks Associates. Fewer than half of the consumers who purchased such high-end devices, or 40%, took advantage of this feature, Parks found.A scant 5% of people whose televisions are connected to the Internet have used their TVs to access online video services such as Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Vudu or Hulu Plus. Although this is seemingly insignificant compared with the 60 million people who subscribe to pay TV, analysts say this nonetheless represents a meaningful shift away from these Internet-based on-demand services as computer-centric experiences.
This seems like a good moment to reiterate that you’re not currently paying for channels you never watch. Really.