National Association of Broadcasters Tackles ‘Zero-TV’ Trend

As it kicks off its annual meeting in Las Vegas this week, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is addressing the issue of “cord cutters  (opens in a new tab).”

A term referring to the population of people ditching traditional cable and satellite TV services—as well as over-the-air TV via an antenna—cord cutting is an escalating trend, challenging broadcasters to come up with new ways of meeting consumer demand or risk becoming obsolete.

According to a Nielsen Company study  (opens in a new tab) released last month, 5 million American households are no longer watching traditional TV, up from 2 million in 2007. Other studies have reported similar findings.

Cost and lack of interest were cited as the two main reasons for abandoning traditional TV viewing, according to the Nielsen study. The convenience of mobile devices also played a role. Sixty-seven percent of what Nielsen called “Zero TV” homes are watching content on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Unlike networks, which can make money from online video providers, broadcasters only receive money when they transmit programming in traditional one-to-everyone methods, the Associated Press reported  (opens in a new tab). Broadcasting live TV signals to mobile devices is possible, and more than 130 TV stations in the United States are doing it, but the number of people who have the tools to receive those signals is relatively small.

“Getting broadcast programming on all the gizmos and gadgets—like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops—is hugely important,” Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for NAB, told the AP.

NAB’s annual meeting—the NAB Show—this week will feature a session on the business opportunity of mobile TV  (opens in a new tab), which allows users to “tune in to live, local news, traffic information, weather, sporting events, and entertainment programs from the convenience of their car, at the beach—wherever they may be, using a variety of mobile and video devices,” according to NAB’s website.

The show will also feature new industry products and services  (opens in a new tab) that allow mobile devices to receive broadcast TV signals. And it will promote the importance of broadcast television in functions such as emergency notification.

“Broadcasters’ one-to-everyone transmission model is the most efficient means of delivering content,” NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan said in a statement  (opens in a new tab). “As Superstorm Sandy demonstrated, this is particularly true in times of emergency when all the spectrum in the world would still be unable to ensure reliability of wireless networks’ one-to-one method of delivery.”

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