Cable TV Customers Now Pay More Than Double What Cord Cutters Pay

telcodad

This is not surprising news:

Cable TV Customers Now Pay More Than Double What Cord Cutters Pay in 2025 According to New Survey
By Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News - April 3, 2025
https://cordcuttersnews.com/cable-tv-customers-now-pay-more-than-double-what-cord-cutters-pay-in-2025-according-to-new-survey/

As the streaming revolution continues to reshape how Americans consume television, a new survey reveals that cord cutters are paying significantly less than their cable TV counterparts in 2025, spending less than half the monthly amount to satisfy their entertainment needs. According to a comprehensive poll of over 1,900 Cord Cutters News readers conducted in early 2025, the average cord cutter’s streaming bill now clocks in at $70 or less per month—often covering internet and a handful of services like Netflix or Hulu. In stark contrast, cable TV subscribers are shelling out an average of $147 monthly for their TV packages, a figure driven by rising base rates, hidden fees, and premium channel add-ons, per industry estimates and reader data. This widening cost gap underscores why cord cutting remains a dominant trend, even as streaming prices inch upward.

The survey, reflecting responses from a dedicated community of streaming enthusiasts, highlights a seismic shift in viewing habits. Cord cutters typically subscribe to just three streaming services, averaging $16 each, with many opting for ad-supported tiers to keep costs down—bringing their total to around $48 before internet. Meanwhile, cable subscribers face a barrage of extras driving their bills up to $147 or as much as $200 a month just for TV.

This cost disparity comes as no surprise amid broader media trends. Just 28.3% of Americans still use DVDs and Blu-rays, per a prior Cord Cutters poll, while 71.7% lean on streaming—propelled by free options like The Roku Channel (28.2% in a best-free-service survey) and Plex’s new channels like The Bold and the Beautiful. Cable’s woes are evident: 19.4% of subscribers pay over $200 monthly, per an April 1 Cord Cutters News survey, with fees for RSNs and taxes inflating bills by 24%. Cord cutters, by contrast, cherry-pick services helping them to save money.

The savings gap persists despite streaming’s own price creep in SVOD costs from 2024. Yet, cord cutters adapt: 54% use ad tiers (up from 46%), and 39% canceled a service in the last six months, per Deloitte, with Gen Z and Millennials leading the churn at over 50%. For now, cord cutters’ $70-or-less bill—versus cable’s $147—proves streaming’s thrift reigns supreme in 2025.

px_eliezer_

telcodad

Both sectors are subject to the truly obscene fees for sports coverage, but cable users generally are harder hit than streaming users.

If people can receive OTA broadcasts, they are able to use relatively lower cost services such as Sling, Frndly TV, or Philo for the other channels they want. Those services are not too expensive and are light on sports.

Taxes were high in ancient Rome because everyone had to pay for the gladiators and the lions.

ESPN, WWE, and so forth are the modern equivalent of the barbarism.

telcodad

px_eliezer_ ESPN, WWE, and so forth are the modern equivalent of the barbarism.

And yet, Comcast has tried to move some RSNs to higher tiers, but has been met with major resistance, both from subscribers and politicians: https://broadbandbulletin.com/d/1843-comcast-to-drop-the-yes-network-once-again

px_eliezer_

telcodad

True but the people who choose to pay for TV service from Comcast (etc) are already sort of a self-selected group, just as those who go with Sling/Philo (etc) don’t care so much about the sports.

Also (perhaps this is my own ignorance), AFAIK the regional sports networks are more “pure” than ESPN or WWE. At any rate, less evil somehow.

For general info, DirectTV has a good summary on the various RSN.
https://www.directv.com/insider/rsn-channels/

timcuth

I switched from cable TV to streaming in the Fall of ’23. My bill is lower, but only by a little.

telcodad

timcuth I switched from cable TV to streaming in the Fall of ’23. My bill is lower, but only by a little.

Yeah, in that case, streaming can become “Cable 2.0”

If you subscribe simultaneously to a live TV service, like YouTube TV, and a number of other streaming services, like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, etc., those charges can all add up to almost what you were paying for cable TV.

Many streamers sign up for only one or two streaming services at a time, binge watch, then cancel those, and then sign up for one or two others.

WalterDnes

YMMV. The biggest savings are for people in the USA who are NOT sports fans and can do without “local” TV channels. RSN fees and re-transmission consent fees are the big “tax on cable”. Streaming is not “pure a-la-carte” by any means, but it does remove the most objectionable parts of “the-500-channel-universe”.

E.g. Philo TV https://www.tvguide.com/news/philo-channels-list/

Sports Channels with Philo
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get any sports channels with Philo. This streaming service aims to keep things affordable, so premium channel lineups featuring popular sports programming won’t be included. There also isn’t an option to pay extra for a sports bundle; Philo simply doesn’t offer it.

If you’re looking for collegiate, professional, or regional sports channels, you’ll have better luck with other streaming services like DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and more.

Local Channels with Philo
As with sports channels, you won’t find Philo local channels on this streaming platform. Your local affiliates for ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, the CW, or PBS don’t stream here. Those looking for entertainment and lifestyle channels will find the most to watch on Philo’s basic cable channel lineup.

timcuth

telcodad If you subscribe simultaneously to a live TV service, like YouTube TV, and a number of other streaming services, like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, etc., those charges can all add up to almost what you were paying for cable TV.

No, that’s not even what I mean. I subscribe only to one streaming service with no add-on networks (or whatever you call them). I used to have Netflix, additionally, but I canceled it some time ago. I do have to pay an extra fee for “regional sports networks” programming.

lesmikesell

telcodad I’d bet most of the streaming people have several other auto-pay services that they forgot to include in that poll.

WalterDnes

This is confusing…

timcuth I switched from cable TV to streaming in the Fall of ’23. My bill is lower, but only by a little.

timcuth I do have to pay an extra fee for “regional sports networks” programming.

Are you subscribing to a sports streaming service (NHL/MLB/FUBO)?

timcuth

WalterDnes

Yes, Fubo. I also got sports on my former cable TV subscription, so I think the comparison is fair.

But a problem is that Fubo’s price keeps going up, so if it goes up much more, I may have to cancel and try something else.

WalterDnes

timcuth Yes, Fubo. I also got sports on my former cable TV subscription, so I think the comparison is fair.

Not necessarily. Unlike many pay-TV customers, you are VOLUNTARILY paying for sports. You’re not really “the target audience” for “entertainment streaming services”, which cut costs by avoiding RSNs and local OTA channels (redistribution consent).

timcuth But a problem is that Fubo’s price keeps going up…

Ditto for sports on cable. That’s why cable is so expensive.

Astyanax

WalterDnes YMMV. The biggest savings are for people in the USA who are NOT sports fans and can do without “local” TV channels.

…and have the patience of Job to figure out which of the umpteen “streaming services” your show is on or even have bothered to acquire show to become “theirs”. Forget just pressing the ON button and “flipping” to the news without “logging on” first.

It’s also about how much you value your time as well as your money.

lesmikesell

Astyanax Forget just pressing the ON button and “flipping” to the news without “logging on” first.

Pretty much every streaming app on every device remembers your login if you’ve used it in the last month or so. So logging on is a thing, but not an everyday thing. Also, many of the streaming device operating systems try to track what you watch - perhaps for their own purposes, but it has the side effect that they can offer a bunch of likely choices on their start up page to jump directly to a channel or next episode of a streaming service and bypass the service’s own home page or guide.

Owlyn

telcodad I cut the cord back in Novemberish. My Comcast bill was going to be over $300. I kept my gig service and phone and I went with Hulu TV and kept all of my streaming services except STARZ, and my bill is about $200.

telcodad

Owlyn I kept my gig service …

Do you think you need 1 gbps down?

I recently downgraded from 800 Mbps to 300 Mbps (and now boosted to 400 Mbps) and haven’t noticed any difference besides a somewhat smaller bill.

Donut417

Owlyn We used to sub to Hulu Live TV and it kept going up. So we dropped that. Went with a good old fashioned antenna. Get maybe 50 ish channels, depending on conditions and such. Then I just jump from streaming service to streaming service based on what content they have.

Astyanax

I now am starting to question my U-Verse devotion. On this month’s bill AT&T arbitrarily decided to end my discounted Max/Cinemax service I was getting for $13.99/month and will now charge me the full rack rate of $26/month. They not only just did this without warning (I went back to look at any notices on previous bills to see if they notified me and didn’t see anything) but even went back and revoked the credit from the previous month as if I cheated them out of it! I went on T’s chat to and discussed the situation with a rep and they said it’s because they spun off WarnerMedia so they no longer have any affiliation with them. He couldn’t find any more promos to get the price much lower but gave me a one-time $15 credit for my trouble.

The price has gone up to the point where it cost just as much as their Cadillac plan of U450 which includes Cinemax and everything I currently have I had him switch me to. If I’m going to have to pay that much more I might as well get the extra channels that go with it. It actually costs about $1.50/month less than just paying the higher cost with the existing plan.

Still I compared my new plan with a Premier DTV Stream plan with all the extra channels. When DTV’s little per channel promos expire the price of them would be the same as U-Verse U450 so it’s not compelling me to move.

lesmikesell

Sling TV breaks out the smallest package bundles and you can add/remove packages any time you want. If you don’t watch every channel every month you can save some money there by tweaking to just pay for what you watch.