Zero TV generation (NaturalNews) Cable and satellite TV service is going by the wayside as more people turn their backs

on the big service providers. According to Nielsen Co. approximately 5 million residences are now labeled "Zero TV" households, up from 2 million in 2007. As more people ditch TV service, broadcasters are in a mad scramble to figure out a way to win the "Zero TV" crowd back. At an upcoming national meeting in Las Vegas, called the NAB Show, broadcasters will discuss ways to keep cable and satellite customers under their control. Cable and satellite providers scramble to adapt to a new generation The big broadcasters plan to do everything they can to meet the new generation where it is, as they try to come up with pay-for-programs-you-like, watch-when-you-want ideas that are growing in popularity. "Getting broadcast programming on all the gizmos and gadgets - like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops - is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. Cheaper online video subscriptions like Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. cost less than $15 a month combined and are making video choices more accessible. To win back customers, TV ratings giant Nielsen plans to measure TV viewing in their quarterly viewing report this fall. They plan to use the results to re-calculate how ads are displayed, hoping to recapture a generation that is turning away from cable and satellite service. Young single generation moving away from TV subscriptions The major broadcasters seem to be in a panic, looking for new ways to utilize their mind control machine. Due to the ease of the internet, new generations may be looking elsewhere for information and entertainment. Research firm SNL Kagan reports that only 46,000 of the 974,000 new households created last year signed up as TV service customers. Reports show that those without service tend to be younger, single and without children. Nielsen's senior Vice President of Insights, Dounia Turrill, says that part of the new monitoring regime from Nielsen is meant to help determine whether the young generation will change their behavior over time. Mind controlled no longer Cynthia Phelps, a 43-year-from San Antonio, Texas is one of many who says "There's nothing that will bring her back to traditional TV." Phelps says television service is of the past. People like her are finding many programs online to watch for free. These programs can be viewed on a person's own time, under their control. No more flipping through channels waiting to receive what's been prepared. People like her are wary of the 24-hour news channels and the latest MTV buzz about the newest gossip. She doesn't feel like she's missing out. She doesn't care anymore. "I feel absolutely no social pressure to keep up with the Joneses in that respect," she says. "I don't want someone else dictating the media I get every day," she says. "I want to be in charge of it. When I have a TV, I'm less in control of that."

As big broadcasters scramble to regain their customers' attention, they've identified and labelled three growing trends. Cable cutters are those who stop paying for TV completely, abandoning its philosophy. Cable shavers are those who reduce the number of channels or TVs in their home, to save money. Cord-nevers are those young people who move out, never set up land line phones or TV subscriptions. They rely on their Internet, Netflix, and their cell phone. The demographics are changing and the broadcasters know it. Can they adapt to an everchanging culture to once again recapture their thoughts? 'Zero TV' generation on the rise - More and more people are ditching traditional TV for the net Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of US$100plus monthly bills. A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the US, up from 2 million in 2007. Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas. While show creators and networks make money from this group's viewing habits through deals with online video providers and from advertising on their own websites and apps, broadcasters only get paid when they relay such programming in traditional ways. Unless broadcasters can adapt to modern platforms, their revenue from Zero TV viewers will be zero. "Getting broadcast programming on all the gizmos and gadgets - like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops - is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. Although Wharton says more than 130 TV stations in the US are broadcasting live TV signals to mobile devices, few people have the tools to receive them. Most cellphones require an add-on device known as a dongle, but these gadgets are just starting to be sold. Among this elusive group of consumers is Jeremy Carsen Young, a graphic designer, who is done with traditional TV. Young has a working antenna sitting unplugged on his back porch in Roanoke, Virginia, and he refuses to put it on the roof. "I don't think we'd use it enough to justify having a big eyesore on the house," the 30-yearold says. Online video subscriptions from Netflix and Amazon.com - which cost less than US$15 a month combined - have given him and his partner plenty to watch. They take in back

episodes of AMC's The Walking Dead and The CW's Supernatural, and they don't need more, he says. He doesn't mind waiting as long as a year for the current season's episodes to appear on streaming services, even if his friends accidently blurt out spoilers in the meantime. With regular television, he might have missed the latest developments, anyway. "By the time it gets to me to watch, I've kind of forgotten about that," he says. For the first time, TV ratings giant Nielsen took a close look at this category of viewer in its quarterly video report released in March. It plans to measure their viewing of new TV shows starting this fall, with an eye toward incorporating the results in the formula used to calculate ad rates. "Our commitment is to being able to measure the content wherever it is," says Dounia Turrill, Nielsen's senior vice president of insights. The Zero TV segment is increasingly important, because the number of people signing up for traditional TV service has slowed to a standstill in the US. Last year, the cable, satellite and telecoms providers added just 46,000 video customers collectively, according to research firm SNL Kagan. That is tiny when compared to the 974,000 new households created last year. While it's still 100.4 million homes, or 84.7 percent of all households, it's down from the peak of 87.3 percent in early 2010. Nielsen's study suggests that this new group may have left traditional TV for good. While three-quarters actually have a physical TV set, only 18 percent are interested in hooking it up through a traditional pay TV subscription. Zero TVers tend to be younger, single and without children. Nielsen's senior vice president of insights, Dounia Turrill, says part of the new monitoring regime is meant to help determine whether they'll change their behaviour over time. "As these homes change life stage, what will happen to them?" Cynthia Phelps, a 43-year-old maker of mental health apps in San Antonio, Texas, says there's nothing that will bring her back to traditional TV. She's watched TV in the past, of course, but for most of the last 10 years she's done without it. She finds a lot of programs online to watch on her laptop for free - like the TED talks educational series - and every few months she gets together with friends to watch older TV shows on DVD, usually "something totally geeky," like NBC's Chuck. The 24-hour news channels make her anxious or depressed, and buzz about the latest hot TV shows like Mad Men doesn't make her feel like she's missing out. She didn't know who the Kardashian family was until she looked them up a few years ago. "I feel absolutely no social pressure to keep up with the Joneses in that respect," she says. For Phelps, it's less about saving money than choice. She says she'd rather spend her time productively and not get "sucked into" shows she'll regret later. "I don't want someone else dictating the media I get every day," she says. "I want to be in charge of it. When I have a TV, I'm less in control of that." The TV industry has a host of buzz words to describe these non-traditionalist viewers. There are "cord-cutters", who stop paying for TV completely, and make do with online video and

sometimes an antenna. There are "cord-shavers", who reduce the number of channels they subscribe to, or the number of rooms pay TV is in, to save money. Then there are the "cord-nevers", young people who move out on their own and never set up a landline phone connection or a TV subscription. They usually make do with a broadband internet connection, a computer, a cellphone and possibly a TV set that is not hooked up the traditional way. That's the label given to the group by Richard Schneider, the president and founder of the online retailer Antennas Direct. The site is doing great business selling antennas capable of accepting free digital signals since the nation's transition to digital over-the-air broadcasts in 2009, and is on pace to sell nearly 600,000 units this year, up from a few dozen when it started in 2003. While the "cord-nevers" are a target market for him, the category is also troubling. More people are raised with the power of the internet in their pocket, and don't know or care that you can pull TV signals from the air for free. "They're more aware of Netflix than they're aware over-the-air is even available," Schneider says. That brings us to truck driver James Weitze. The 31-year-old satisfies his video fix with an iPhone. He often sleeps in his truck, and has no apartment. To be sure, he's an extreme case who doesn't fit into Nielsen's definition of a household in the first place. But he's watching Netflix enough to keep up with shows like Weeds, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Sons of Anarchy. He's not opposed to TV per se, and misses some ESPN sports programs like the X Games. But he's so divorced from the traditional TV ecosystem it could be hard to go back. It's become easier for him to navigate his smartphone than to figure out how to use a TV settop box and the button-laden remote control. "I'm pretty tech savvy, but the TV industry with the cable and the television and the boxes, you don't know how to use their equipment," he says. "I try to go over to my grandma's place and teach her how to do it. I can't even figure it out myself." The Zero-TV Generation Unfortunately, not having a home or budget, means' no availability of pay per view movies or basic television programs. Nielsens designated my category to be called Zero TV. Similar American lost viewers are causing concerns for many traditional broadcasters. But being homeless and an unemployed actor means' living out of my car, and satisfying my video fix with an access to my public libraries computer. Thanks to Hulo and YouTube, keeping up on shows like; Sons of Anarchy Weeds, 30 Rock, AMC's "Mad Men "Breaking Bad, HBO's Newsroom", "Game of Thrones and Arrested Development. For other's not homeless, but without the means of paying $2000 a year for satellite or cable, they wont see a dime from those who are also TV -less. And are getting video programing on tablets, laptops or in their cars' backseats with gizmos and gadgets which is at least great for the condom & lube industry.

Nielsen estimated last month that nearly five million people across the country no longer use their television set to watch programs. And are ditching their cable in favor of getting content from the internet. But nearly five percent of the television-watching public fall into Nielsens Zero TV category . Nielsen seems to be aware of the shifting change in modern viewing habits, with still 67 percent have decided to part ways with their cable or satellite providers. Those are the few without cable access, while still using their TVs to play video games or watch movies on home video. Although it will track usage across a number of different platforms, Nielsen wont be able to provide specific ratings for shows on Red Box or YouTube. Today, 95 percent of U.S. viewers still watch so-called traditional TV in their living rooms. Luckily thats still a very small slice of the market, TV itself isnt necessarily obsolete, Nielsen found even among the cable-cutting group. Its an electronic stage used for console gaming, watching DVD's and surfing the Internet. More than 75 percent of the cable eliminator's still has at least one TV set. Even though Zero TV numbers seem odd, remember that were talking about people are streaming video on their devices, but havent given up all their traditional TV viewing yet to do so. The direction of TV trends among the cable-cutting viewing groups, show approximately 23 percent of the American viewing subscribers have cancelled their cable TV or satellite subscription. American's are not dropping traditional TV entirely; were introducing more devices into the mix consuming content in new ways as well. The Zero-TV generation and the rise of Hangouts as an interactive broadcasting medium. We dont have cable in my house, so according to the Associated Press we are one of the 2 million Zero-TV homes in America. We watch our movies and our TV shows online, in our own time and in our own living room. We choose what we want to see and when, and much of it is viewed on our mobile devices through YouTube. We dont even have an antenna to get free signals over the air, though if we really wanted to, we could have used Aereo which scoops up the free signals of local television stations and streams them to the phones and computers of paying subscribers. See, we dont mind paying for our movies, but we want to get them when we want to get them, and on the device that we want to watch them on. We choose our content and the experts we want to listen to. And thats where I see Hangouts come in. Hangouts OnAir are a free video chat with 10 people, that are also streamed live and recorded on YouTube. I can get them on any device (mobile, tablet, desktop), I can watch them live or catch the recorded version and best of all I can be a part of my favorite channel, as an active participant. Imagine sitting in your living room having your TV connected to Google TV, Roku or even a desktop and viewing a Hangout on the big screen. (We used to have our TV projected on the wall). Imagine being a part of it right there in your living room expressing your opinions, asking questions, being a part of the conversation. And thats where the real value of Hangouts lies.

To monetize Hangouts, all you have to do is build a following, offer great content and get sponsors - just like Glamour magazine did. With the help of Google, Glamour launched a Hangout series with well-known guests, readers and staff, where eight of the nine Hangouts are sponsored by a company, whose products are featured centrally in the content. Glamours readers will be able to join some of the Hangouts (which I highly recommend Glamour continue to do), and share their personal experience. What should broadcasters do? Adapt to a future where the living room is not where we watch all our shows. Offer high quality content over the internet. Engage with us via Hangouts, and realize that the future is moving towards personal engagement with the viewers in a two-way conversation style, and they can no longer talk at us and expect us not to change the channel. What should YOU do? Find your niche, start your own Hangout show, build your audience and have a plan to monetize it either with sponsors, advertisement or paid viewers. This is already the case in the podcasting industry. Live video channels that include audience participation is the next thing. Get ready now, or miss the boat. The TV-free generation and its role in the NBN debate More and more homes in the US are ditching the TV and consuming video content online or via tablets or smartphones. Will Australia follow suit? And if so, what would that mean for our new national broadband? What is a zero TV home? And what does it mean for the Australian NBN debate? More and more American homes are switching off free-to-air and or cable (pay) TV and exclusively consuming visual media via their computers, tablets and smartphones, not to mention gaming machines. The latest estimate reckons there are around 5 million such homes in the US, more than double the number of five or six years ago. While Australia is a long way from this situation, there are growing reports of zero TV houses among younger demographics, who are also have led the way in abandoning copper wire landlines and going naked with broadband/mobile only. Abandoning pay TV in Australia would send a nasty shock through the local media industry (free-to-air TV would be OK because the majority of viewers still get it over the airwaves and not through their cable channels). The NBN could very well increase the number of zero TV homes in Australia, just as faster and faster broadband speeds have played a part in the US, along with the Apple-driven smartphone and tablet revolutions. But TV seems to have been ignored in the NBN debate in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull said this week (according to yesterdays Crikey): The greatest uncertainty overhanging investment in nextgeneration fixed networks is not over costs, despite the mystery that surrounds NBN Cos refusal to be open about the full capex cost per premise of its rollout. It is over revenue and user demand; nobody knows what applications may emerge to use the bandwidth that fibre provides, or what value consumers might place on them. At the moment the only answer to this quest for a killer app for fibre is more and better television. In markets such as the US, where cable TV subscriptions are an embedded part of consumer behaviour, this may tip the scales in

favour of investment. But relying on TV in addition to broadband and voice to drive revenues is less persuasive in Australia, where subscription TV penetration is lower. In the US, streaming video (from the likes of Netflix and Amazon) has been a driver to the rapid upgrade of broadband speeds by the telco giants. They have also been spending heavily because their basic copper wire-based phone services are dying. Big cable companies, such as Comcast, have decided to match them by upgrading their offerings and services. And the key point in all of this has been faster and faster broadband speeds, not static or half choke. The appearance of zero TV homes in Australia would send a tremor through Foxtel in particular and the spin-off of the new News Corporation later this year. The number of TV-free homes in the US has jumped to 5 million in 2013 from 2 million five years ago. Many of those abandoning conventional TV have done so because cable costs have topped $US100 a month, which in a country where unemployment is at 7.6% and wages growth averages less than 2% a year has become a dispensable cost. US research firm SNL Kagan says around 100 million homes, or 84.7% of all US households, have cable or free-to-air TV services. But thats down from the peak of 87.3% in early 2010. Nielsen estimates that 67% of the 5 million homes without TVs do watch video content, with 37% doing so on a computer, 16% via the internet, 8% on smartphones and 6% on tablets. The remainder presumably dont watch anything. There are an estimated 130 services streaming TV content to mobile devices across the US, with newcomer Aereo taking on Apple and Netflix. Aereo has raised the hackles of the freeto-air networks because it uses tiny antennas to capture broadcasters over -the-air signals and then streams them to local subscribers. It does so without TV stations permission, and without paying them any money or subscription fees. Broadcasters say that violates their copyright and last week lost a case in New York on that argument. It is headed for appeal, but already News Corps Chase Carey has warned that the company could convert its Fox free-to-air channels across the US into cable channels and add them to its existing offerings. Ironically Aereo is backed Barry Diller, the man who started Fox TV for Rupert Murdoch more than 25 years ago. In an anti-trust legal action, one of Americas biggest cable companies, Cablevision, is challenging the ways cable providers such as Viacom force cable companies to take less popular channels as a part of getting the rights to popular channels. And the giant Verizon telecommunications group has proposed changing the way it pays the channel providers from a blanket set fee per subscriber to one based on the actual number of people watching each channel. Verizon is in effect trying to unbundle cable channel offerings, while Cablevision is seeking something similar, but from a different direction. Dont expect those challenges to happen here because of the way Foxtel and News Ltd have been allowed to dominate subscription TV in this country. They dont like competition. But even Foxtel and News are under pressure as Foxtels subscription numbers have barely risen in the year since the Austar takeover. The huge and expensive AFL contract has been slow to lift subscriptions. Foxtel has been forced to restructure the cost and nature of its subscription packages by cutting the number of channels and the starting prices, and offering free installation and between one and six free months. The appearance of zero TV

homes in Australia would send a tremor through Foxtel in particular and the spin-off of the new News Corporation later this year. The "Zero TV" Generation AZUZ: Most Americans watch their TV shows here. There`s a new study out that suggests a growing number of Americans who are watching here, or here. The study shows that 5 million Americans don`t actually watch TV on TV, and those viewers aren`t being counted as part of the Neilsen ratings. Zain Asher now looks at how the way we watch TV can affect the way that companies make money on TV. ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn`t so long ago that almost every household had a landline, connected to the world through plugs and wires. But the rotary soon came and went, the phone became mobile, and now the television is doing the same. Neilsen, a consumer research group, says more of us are watching TV without a TV - on laptops, tablets, phones, anywhere but here. And often, at a fraction of the cost. PROF. ROBERT THOMPSON, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: The old idea of waiting till something is on to watch it is something that many simply don`t feel the need to tolerate anymore. ASHER: Five percent of Americans are now disconnected. Two and a half times the number five years ago. DHIYA KURIAKOSE, COLUMBIA STUDENT: I`m graduating (ph) in broadcast television journalism and I don`t own a TV, so that`s saying something. ASHER: What Neilsen calls "The Zero TV Generation," seems to be younger and more comfortable with content on the go. As more Americans disconnect, experts say it`s the cable companies who could be left holding the bag. THOMPSON: These operations are going to have to come up with ways to get their material available in some way that`s going to make them money on all kinds of different devices. JOHN BERGMAYER, ATTORNEY PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: They make their living delivering content to people, and if people are getting their content another way, they might find themselves cut out. ASHER: For decades family, friends, coworkers, would watch the same programs on TV`s schedule. And then talk about it at work, at home, and on the phone. JOHN MCKINNEY, ASHE AVENUE: I mean the thing that happens now is like if you watch, say, the new episode of "Game of Thrones," then you`re going to go on Facebook and talk about it or tweet about it or something, ASHER: A new and different social conversation. AZUZ: All right, are you part of the zero TV generation, or could you be? Join the conversation on our blog about whether you could do without cable and satellite TV. Teachers also, please sound of on today`s show. It`s all on the same site, CNNstudentnews.com.