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1. Cable TV
1. 有線電視
Cable television's heyday is over. Subscribers have been declining since 2004, and analysts say there's no end in sight. Roughly 54.8 million households currently pay for cable TV, down 3.3% from 2012 and down 17.6% from a decade prior, according to research firm IHS. Cable companies are expected to shed roughly 1.3 million subscribers in 2014.
有線電視的黃金時(shí)代已經(jīng)結(jié)束了。有線電視用戶2004年以來一直在減少，分析師稱，預(yù)計(jì)這種態(tài)勢還將繼續(xù)保持下去。研究公司IHS的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，目前約有5,480萬個(gè)家庭付費(fèi)收看有線電視，較2012年減少3.3%，較十年前減少17.6%。預(yù)計(jì)在2014年有線電視公司將損失約130萬用戶。
The decline is due in part to so-called cord-cutters: consumers who are canceling cable and transitioning to lower-cost services, such as Hulu and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) , which provide much of the same programming at a fraction of the price. Using an Internet connection, consumers can stream many cable shows, news programs and sports games, as well as movies, directly to their TVs. Some channels' websites also provide viewers access to their shows. (MarketWatch recently launched a calculator - Are you ready to cut the cord? - that allows consumers to find the shows they normally watch through such lower-cost options.)
有線電視用戶的減少在一定程度上要?dú)w因于所謂的“剪線族”(cord-cutter)：這些消費(fèi)者取消有線服務(wù)，轉(zhuǎn)向Hulu和Netflix等費(fèi)用較低的服務(wù)，后者提供的節(jié)目與有線電視基本相同，但價(jià)格要便宜得多。通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接，用戶可以將許多有線電視節(jié)目、新聞報(bào)道、體育比賽和電影直接串流到電視上觀看。一些電視頻道還允許觀眾通過其網(wǎng)站收看節(jié)目。（MarketWatch近期推出了一個(gè)名為“你為剪線做好準(zhǔn)備了嗎？”的計(jì)算工具，可讓消費(fèi)者通過這類費(fèi)用較低的選擇方案找到他們通常收看的節(jié)目）
These services are mostly beneficial for people who do not mind watching shows after they've aired and are willing to part with most live programming.
這些服務(wù)主要適合那些不介意觀看非實(shí)時(shí)節(jié)目，愿意與大多數(shù)直播節(jié)目揮手告別的人士。
