We predicted that pay cable TV would join that great tech service graveyard in the sky by the year 2025. And it seems that everything is marching along according to plan: Bloomberg has reported that in all likelihood Netflix has passed HBO in number of paid US subscribers.
According to analysts quoted by Bloomberg, Netflix has reached 30 million paying US customers as of the end of September, while HBO can only boast 28.7 million. It should be noted that we've seen similar reports heralding that Netflix has eclipsed HBO based on analyst predictions before. We should get a more concrete view of the situation later today when Netflix distributes its official third quarter report including subscriber numbers.
Regardless of who comes out ahead in the subscriber horse race, the stratospheric rise in Netflix's popularity represents an important paradigm shift in US viewer habits. According to the Convergence Consulting Group's report "Battle for the North American Couch Potato 2013" (you can get the partial PDF here), 3.74 million US household completely cut their TV subscriptions between 2008 and 2012 and rely solely on streaming services like Netflix in conjunction with over-the-air programming. That figure is expected to rise to 4.7 million by the end of this year.
The trends are not in cable's favor.
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