Cutting the Cord: Streaming video cuts into pay-TV subscriber base

For pay-TV providers, the song remains the same. Streaming-video services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video woo consumers and, as a result, some defect from their traditional pay-TV service. Still, more than 80 percent of US homes currently get pay-TV service from cable, satellite or telecommunication companies -- Leichtman Research estimates about 83 percent, while IHS Research says 82 percent.

That's reconfirmed by the 79 percent figure found in a new survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted for USA TODAY's "Cutting the Cord" column Sept. 1-7 by online market research company OnePoll and commissioned by RCA Antennas. Of those who do not have pay TV, more than one-third (36 percent) of those surveyed said they canceled their service in favor of pay-as-you-go streaming-video services.