The Death of Cable? Nearly 50% of Canadians Have Now Cut the Cord for Good

Canadians are paying more than ever to watch their favourite shows as the country’s top streaming services hiked prices by an average of seven per cent last year.

Data from the annual Couch Potato Report from Convergence Research reveals that while streaming giants like Netflix, Disney+, and Crave continue to get more expensive, consumers are still choosing them over traditional cable TV. The report suggests that cable and satellite television are quickly becoming “niche” products, with nearly half of Canadian households (48.5%) now living without a traditional TV subscription.

“Even though prices are going up, people are choosing the alternative which is significantly less in cost,” said Convergence Research president Brahm Eiley, in an interview with The Canadian Press.

To combat rising monthly bills, many Canadians are pivoting to ad-supported tiers. The report found that plans with commercials offer a significant average savings of 42 per cent compared to ad-free versions. For example, Netflix’s standard plan with ads currently sits at $7.99 per month, while its ad-free premium tier has climbed to $23.99.

Total Canadian streaming subscriptions reached over 38 million by the end of 2025. Subscription revenue grew 15 per cent to $4.8 billion last year and is forecasted to hit $5.35 billion in 2026. Experts now predict that streaming revenue will officially exceed traditional TV subscription revenue by 2027.

Despite the price hikes, the average Canadian household now pays for nearly three different streaming services to keep up with exclusive content. “You need multiple sources now to watch what it is that you want to watch,” Eiley noted. “That’s a little different than the way TV was. You had one subscription and you got everything.”

The report notes that Canada is increasingly a battleground for an ‘over-the-top’ (OTT) war waged by global U.S. programmers and independent providers like Amazon, Apple, DAZN, and Fubo. While cord-cutting continues to grow, experts predict that 57 per cent of Canadian households will be without traditional TV by 2028.

Do you still subscribe to cable TV at home? What are you watching that needs cable? Most of the time people have cable TV because of some bundle deal offered by telecoms that make it hard to resist.