A new study conducted by the Convergence Research Group predicts streaming services like Netflix will overtake traditional cable TV in Canada, as soon as 2020.
Convergence president Brahm Eiley told CBC News, “The numbers are so big now that it really is happening,” adding “The writing’s on the wall.”
The study says there has been a two per cent fall in Canadian TV subscribers in 2016 and 2017, with subsequent average declines of 2.6 per cent through 2020 is being forecasted.
As for streaming services such as Netflix in Canada? The report says in 2017, there was a 24% increase in sign ups for these services compared to the year before.
While Netflix has the lead in streaming service sign ups in Canada, it’s followed by Amazon and their Prime Video and CraveTV, offered by Bell Media.
Eiley predicts by 2024, more Canadians will have Netflix subscriptions than traditional TV packages. In the past five years, Netflix subscribers in Canada have tripled to 6.4 million.
There are numerous streaming services set to put a dent in traditional cable TV subscriptions, such as Amazon’s Prime Video, DAZN, BritBox, CBS All-Access, Sportsnet NOW and also Apple’s rumoured service, which has continued to add more shows.
CBC News interviewed one recent cord cutter named Shelly MacMillan, who ditched TV last December only when her cable box broke down.
She told the news publication “I started to look at my bill and I thought, ‘You watch two channels that you like on cable: should you be paying $80 a month for that?’ I really started to question it.”
MacMillan eventually signed up for Netflix as an experiment, and subsequently canceled her cable TV subscription days later, adding “I just don’t see [cable] surviving.”
The only reason people still want traditional cable TV is for live news and sports, but there are ways to access these channels for free, especially if you have an antenna to capture free TV signals over the air. We’ll have a short tutorial soon on how to set this up.
Last fall, Netflix and the Federal government signed a $500 million deal for Canadian productions, with investment to be spent in Canada.
Recently, the broadcast industry shared their thoughts with the CRTC on what should be done to support Canadian content production, with opinions being mixed among cable TV companies.
Are you still subscribed to cable TV? If so, what are you mostly watching?
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I havent had cable for over 2 years. I dont miss it. I was paying well over 80-100 for a few channels so I decided to cut the cord. It was weird at first to not have the “freedom” of channel surfing but I got used to it. Luckily the only sports I watch is hockey and I get the NHL Gamer Center Live included with my Rogers services. Other than that I just find ways to stream shows the day after they air on TV or wait until the series’ are uploaded to Netflix or other subscription sites
Where do you normally stream from?
I have a kodi box
you dont miss it because you use a pirated method to access your content.
My $50 Fire TV Stick beat any Kodi box. I have an $800 Zotac mini computer just for LibreElec (Kodi), but the Fire TV is amazing. I can watch almost ALL the Canadian TV channels, movies and shows. And I have Kodi too on it.
If I have to pay Telu$, $haw or Roger$ almost $200/month to watch some of that content, than I’m not going to feel bad for watching it for free.
I want to cut cable, but its my only source for live news, i read stuff online also, but i am just so used to watching CP24 in the morning and evening.
Between the News widget and social media I find it pretty easy to say in the loop.
CP24 is terrible for news and overall terrible. You will be much better off without it 🙂
You could pay for CBC premium to get CBC news network 24/7.
Try Reuters and Associated Press. Quite a few stories have them as their source.
If you have a relative or friend with cable just ask them to give you their log in info. You can log in online and watch most stations with Rogers. I did that for a few years.
I cut the cord twice. The second time was about three years ago when the package deal I got from signing up for fibre expired. I’d set the PVR to record a few shows and then forgot I had the box. I was already watching much better stuff online.
I subscribe to multiple streaming services and still pay less than I would be paying for cable and get better content. My TV is set to default to AppleTV so even the apps on the TV are now redundant.
I get news from several apps and can even watch live news from France. Never watched sports so that’s not an issue. I do VPN British TV once in a while and get a bit sad because CBC isn’t as good. The content on YouTube is amazing once you sign in and customise what you want to watch. Most of what I can’t get streaming I can buy on iTunes.
The biggest problem with cutting the cord? Too much to watch and too little time.
Plex has a news channel and it is online. you configure what you want to see. it is very good. you can also setup your antennae with another piece of hardware and record shows over air onto plex. it is like having your own netflix server at home. i love it.
Dropped my cable service last week. Opted for a $30 internet package instead and keeping the $90 per month I would have spent on cable in my pocket. Between digital antenna, Netflix, and Amazon prime video, most of my viewing needs are met.