UK consumers seeing less value in TV-broadband bundles, says report

A new survey has indicated that a fifth of UK households which subscribe to bundled broadband and TV are considering separating their subscriptions and no longer see value in them.

The study comes from Zen Internet, which is an independently owned alternative telco. It claims that two million of the 10 million UK households that have a broadband and TV bundle, are considering unbundling, and that 1.7 million have already done so.

The report says that 2.9 million households feel they pay too much for their TV services but say that they don’t want to lose access to them. The survey found sports channels to be rated as important packages despite their high cost per viewing hour, with the average sports package costing £1.30 per hour.

By contrast, combining its analysis of the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) viewing data with its own consumer survey, Zen Internet also found that the average TV or streaming subscription service costs 41p per viewing hour.

Richard Tang, founder and chairman of Zen, said: “Even before the pandemic hit, it was clear to see viewing habits were changing with increased popularity of streaming services versus traditional TV packages. However, there are still a lot of people that rightfully don’t want to lose out on their TV subscriptions. Fortunately, with the emergence of ultrafast broadband, consumers no longer need to be tied into broadband and tv bundles where they’re getting value from some channels, but not from others.

“Today, consumers should know they can pick and choose their channels and services without being tied to a bundle, including their favourite sports packages, making use of a separate broadband connection that reliably underpins it all.”

The report also found that 1.6 million broadband households subscribed to a new streaming service during lockdown and they intend to continue their subscription going forward. Over a quarter (28%) of houses have at least one streaming service alongside the TV licence, amounting to 7.7 million households.