Estimate: 800,000 U.S. Households Abandoned Their TVs For The Web

Are you a cord-cutter, or do you want to be? Have you had enough of paying your cable company through the nose for 800 channels, when all you really watch is maybe 20 or 30? With an increasing selection of high-quality TV fare coming online, more people are experimenting with ditching their TVs (or more accurately, their cable and satellite TV subscriptions) for online options such as Hulu, Netflix, broadcaster Websites, or Apple's iTunes. The numbers are still small, but an estimated 800,000 U.S. households cut the cable cord altogether in the past two years, according to a new report by the Convergence Consulting Group. By the end of next year, that number is forecast to double to 1.6 million. Cord cutters don't yet represent a serious threat to the $84 billion cable/satellite/telco TV access industry, which counts an estimated 101 million subscribers. But they are a leading indicator of the shift to TV viewing on the Web.