A survey of more than 3,000 adults found 4.2 percent planning to cut pay-TV service within the next six months. The Digitalsmiths survey found that 7.9 percent expected to change their services, and 2.5 percent expected to switch to an online app or rental service. It said 8.9 percent had switched pay-TV providers within the previous three months. The survey also found that more respondents increased services than decreased them.

The 17 largest U.S. cable and phone providers added 3 million net broadband subscribers in 2014, Leichtman Research Group (LRG) said in a news release Thursday. Cable companies have 51.9 million broadband subscribers and phone companies have 35.4 million, it said. AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS broadband subscribers make up 53 percent of telco broadband subscribers, up from 37 percent at the end of 2012, LRG said. In 2014, the top cable companies added 2.65 million broadband subscribers and the top phone companies added about 345,000 subscribers, LRG said. In 2014, the top cable companies saw 2.3 million more net additions than phone companies did, compared with 1.7 million net adds in 2013, it said.

LCD TV sales volume in China totaled 3.7 million units for the New Year season -- Feb. 2-22 -- a 4 percent rise over the year-ago holiday period, said research company IHS. TV sales were driven by third- and fourth-tier markets where lower income levels translated to growth in sales of entry-level TVs with smaller screen sizes. Major local Chinese brands gained share, especially in rural markets, while premium TVs “did not attract attention,” said IHS. Curved and high-color gamut TVs weren't a factor since they're not promoted in the domestic market and “imported models are quite expensive,” it said.

The 13 largest U.S. pay-TV providers lost about 125,000 net video subscribers in 2014, and annual net pay-TV losses in 2014 were 95,000 subscribers, comparable to 2013, said the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) in a news release Tuesday. In 2014, the top nine cable companies lost about 1.2 million video subscribers, the fewest since 2008, it said. In 2014, the top phone providers added 1.05 million video subscribers and satellite-TV providers added 20,000 video subscribers, it said. Comcast had the most video subscribers for cable, and DirecTV, the most subscribers for satellite TV, a spreadsheet in LRG's news release showed. Meanwhile, U.S. pay TV had modest year-over-year growth in Q4, Pivotal Research Group (PRG) said in a Tuesday report. Pay TV will also have growth in subscribers in 2015, PRG said. Pay-TV penetration in U.S. households declined 0.9 percent to 85.9 percent, it said. Broadband remains healthy and cable will continue to take net new broadband subscribers, PRG said. Wireline phone subscription losses dropped 50 percent year over year, PRG said. The cable industry faces the risk of reregulation, especially with reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service creating the "potential for regulation medium to long term," analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said. If the government doesn't approve Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, it could create a "temporary downside in all the names," he said. Other risks for cable include aggressive product price increases, increased competition from Google Fiber, potential over-the-top video competition and wireless substitution for phone and data, and rising programming costs, he said. The satellite-TV industry faces the risks of increasing competition and programming expenses, Wlodarczak said. If cable makes higher speeds more widely available, like 500+ Mbps, there could be Internet-based alternatives for satellite TV, he said. AT&T and Verizon pushed their video products "at the expense of satellite," he said. Satellite-TV operators lack internal triple-play bundle services, but since they are partnered with major telcos, the coming of 4G might help, he said. DirecTV focuses on the same market that regional Bell operating company and cable companies do, and Dish Network's market is at risk in the current economy and from consumers switching to over-the-top (OTT) alternatives, Wlodarczak said. OTT and retransmission rights will become substitutes for multichannel TV, he said.

The number of apps downloaded to smartphones and tablets is expected to grow roughly 28 percent this year to over 235 billion, said a Juniper Research report. Fueling the projected rise is “phenomenal growth” in downloads in the Chinese market, which last year accounted for six in 10 downloads worldwide, said Juniper. Local digital storefronts have benefited from Google’s near exclusion from the China market, said Juniper, and search engine company Baidu has been the primary beneficiary. Baidu’s app store, which is effectively integrated into the search engine, has passed iTunes to become the second-largest app store globally in download volume, said Juniper. While five of the top seven app stores in download volume are China-based, China still lags the U.S. and Japan in app revenue, it said. Revenue per download is nine times higher in the U.S. and 14 times higher in Japan, said the researcher. Games are the most mature and lucrative app sector and offer “significant scope for growth” in both developed and developing markets, said Juniper, citing a migration from handheld game consoles to mobile devices and “continued social gaming growth.” Adoption and monetization of multimedia apps is likely to be fueled further by network operators bundling multimedia applications with customer subscriptions, it said. “Broadcasters are now offering distinct and bolt-on mobile packages, a trend which will gain further impetus as customers migrate to larger screen phablet devices,” said analyst Windsor Holden.

CEA’s index of consumer expectations, which measures consumer outlook about the U.S. economy as a whole, increased 3.3 points from January to reach 181.2, the association said Tuesday. This month’s index also is 13.6 points higher than that of February 2014, reaching its highest February level since CEA launched the index eight years ago, it said. “U.S. economic growth is poised to sustain a run of above-trend growth over the next few quarters,” said Shawn DuBravac, CEA chief economist. “Desirable financial conditions continue to develop with improved household net worth, strengthening income and consumer spending growth. Employment gains are also adding to the jump in consumer confidence.” CEA’s separate index of consumer technology expectations, which measures consumer intentions on tech spending, jumped 6 points in February from January to reach 94.9, CEA said. This month’s index is 10.7 points higher than in February 2014, also setting a record high for the month, it said. “While consumer sentiment is prone to seasonal variation during this time of the year, the February 2015 levels are extremely strong,” DuBravac said. Ultra HD TVs are among the “key tech categories” that continue to show “better-than-expected strength,” he said.

The growing use of IPTV devices will lead pay-TV middleware providers to create a unified, multiscreen experience for viewers, a Frost & Sullivan news release said Wednesday. In 2014, the IPTV market had $1.05 billion in revenue, said a Nov. 27 study on the global pay-TV middleware market from F&S, which develops growth strategies for businesses. IPTV revenue will increase to $2.03 billion by 2020, the study said. Rising subscriber churn and demand for over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions has put pressure on pay-TV operators, it said. Flexible consumption models using OTT and advanced pay-TV middleware are needed, it said. Pay-TV middleware providers will see more opportunities in emerging markets like Africa and India, which are moving toward pay-TV “IPfication,” it said. Markets in North America and Western Europe have hybrid cable and satellite deployments, it said.

Alternative early upgrade and no-contract wireless plans are disrupting the market’s traditional purchase model for handsets, said Parks Associates research released Thursday. A quarter of T-Mobile subscribers prefer the traditional two-year wireless contract model with a subsidized handset, while a third prefer to pay full price upfront and 31 percent would rather pay in monthly installments, Parks said. T-Mobile and AT&T “have tapped into the consumer desire for the latest and greatest smartphone with their early-upgrade programs,” said Harry Wang, Parks director-health and mobile product research. Some 14 percent of smartphone owners plan to upgrade to their next device more quickly than they did for their current device, with a quarter of them citing special operator incentives as the reason. “These alternative plans are one stone for two birds -- they help operators acquire new subscribers and retain loyal, high-value customers,” Wang said. The challenge for operators is to persuade smartphone users to upgrade early and buy more-profitable data plans while minimizing voluntary customer churn, he said.

Consumer intentions to buy TV sets dropped sharply in January from December, said preliminary data released Tuesday by the Conference Board. Of 5,000 consumers canvassed in January, 11.7 percent said they plan to buy new TV sets in the next six months compared with 13.2 percent in December, 15.3 percent in November and 12.5 percent in January 2014, the Conference Board said. However, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose sharply in January to 102.9 from 93.1 in December. That the index reached its highest level since August 2007 reflected "a more positive assessment of current business and labor market conditions," the Conference Board said. "Consumers also expressed a considerably higher degree of optimism regarding the short-term outlook for the economy and labor market, as well as their earnings."

CEA’s monthly index of consumer technology expectations jumped 0.3 points in January from December to reach 88.9, CEA said Tuesday in a report. The January index, which is a measure of consumer intentions on tech spending, is 5.2 points higher than in January 2014 and suggests “momentum from the holiday season is spilling into the new year,” CEA said. The association's separate index of consumer expectations, which measures consumer expectations about the “broader economy,” however, fell 2.2 points from December to 177.9, CEA said. But the January index is 10.6 points higher than that of January 2014, it said.