It might be one of the most popular devices out there for people who want to ditch cable and stream their favorite shows directly to their TV, but the makers of Roku say they are actually helping the cable companies attract more business.

Steve Shannon, Roku’s GM of content and services, told the Lost Remote LA Conference Friday that their customers are actually more likely to be cable subscribers, since many of their most popular channels, like HBO GO, are authenticated and can’t be viewed without an account.

And even those who can survive without authenticated channels, might be doing so much streaming that they buy a faster broadband tier, helping the cable companies out in a different way.

Shannon said that Roku shouldn’t really be associated with cord cutting, because that description just doesn’t fit their user profile.

“About a third of our users don’t have pay TV subscriptions,” Shannon said. “It’s pretty flat; it’s not a growing number.”

Cord cutting overall is a real phenomenon, Shannon told the conference, but it is very slow, and Roku doesn’t expect a sea change any time soon.

“The reality is the vast majority of our users have a pay TV subscription.”

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