Below is a complimentary Demography Unplugged research note written by Hedgeye Demography analyst Neil Howe. Click here to learn more and subscribe.

Cutting The Cable Cord? Not in Europe - 9 20 2021 11 00 19 AM

Over the past decade, the share of U.S. households with cable TV has fallen more than 30 percentage points.

But on the other side of the Atlantic, subscriptions are going in the opposite direction.

This year, the share of households in Britain who subscribe to pay TV is set to overtake America’s share (around 56%). In France and Germany, this has already happened.

Europe’s attachment to cable can be attributed to several different factors: First, many popular shows in the U.S. have migrated to studios’ individual streaming platforms, such as Peacock and HBO Max.

But they remain only on cable in Europe, where most of these streamers don’t exist yet.

The ones that do have largely partnered with satellite and cable services instead of competing with them. Paramount+, for instance, will be available next year in six countries to subscribers of British cable giant Sky.

Cable subscriptions are also considerably cheaper in Europe, making them easier on the wallet.

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ABOUT NEIL HOWE

Neil Howe is a renowned authority on generations and social change in America. An acclaimed bestselling author and speaker, he is the nation's leading thinker on today's generations—who they are, what motivates them, and how they will shape America's future.

A historian, economist, and demographer, Howe is also a recognized authority on global aging, long-term fiscal policy, and migration. He is a senior associate to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., where he helps direct the CSIS Global Aging Initiative.

Howe has written over a dozen books on generations, demographic change, and fiscal policy, many of them with William Strauss. Howe and Strauss' first book, Generations is a history of America told as a sequence of generational biographies. Vice President Al Gore called it "the most stimulating book on American history that I have ever read" and sent a copy to every member of Congress. Newt Gingrich called it "an intellectual tour de force." Of their book, The Fourth Turning, The Boston Globe wrote, "If Howe and Strauss are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets."

Howe and Strauss originally coined the term "Millennial Generation" in 1991, and wrote the pioneering book on this generation, Millennials Rising. His work has been featured frequently in the media, including USA Today, CNN, the New York Times, and CBS' 60 Minutes.

Previously, with Peter G. Peterson, Howe co-authored On Borrowed Time, a pioneering call for budgetary reform and The Graying of the Great Powers with Richard Jackson.

Howe received his B.A. at U.C. Berkeley and later earned graduate degrees in economics and history from Yale University.