Cable companies may be finally hearing cord cutters’ footsteps

Cable companies have shown no signs of concern over cord cutting so far and it’s easy to see why: Even customers who ditch their home video services will keep paying cable companies for broadband access. But TechHive notes that the cord cutting trend might finally be showing up on cable companies’ radars now that it’s growing to a more substantial size. A quick rundown of the numbers: Comcast has added 917,000 broadband subscribers this year but has lost 348,000 pay TV customers; Charter added 86,000 broadband subscribers but lost 27,000 pay TV subscribers; and Time Warner Cable saw its broadband subscriber numbers rise by 1.7% while seeing its pay TV subscriber numbers shrink by 6%.

Given these numbers, it’s not too surprising that we’re starting to see cable companies become a little more flexible with their bundling plans — both Comcast and Time Warner Cable have in the last month offered cheaper TV packages that combine basic channels with HBO in a bid to keep more users hooked on pay TV services and away from going exclusively with Netflix and Hulu . Cable companies and other ISPs hate the thought of being relegated to being “dumb pipes” that provide little value added so we might see even more deals like this in the future if more pay TV subscribers keep ditching their service to go with broadband only.

http://news.yahoo.com/cable-companies-may-fin...17686.html