LANSING – The number of households breaking away from cable television in Michigan accelerated in 2022, with over 151,000 households dropping the service, a 9 percent drop, the biggest one-year decline.
According to an annual report issued last week by the Michigan Public Service Commission, there are now roughly 1.5 million cable subscribers statewide, down nearly 900,000 since 2009, or 37.5 percent of all households.
The peak of cable TV in Michigan was 2009, when over 2,365,000 households subscribed, or 62 percent of all households. That number held relatively flat until 2016 as people turned to streaming services and satellite providers.
“There’s a trend that people are moving away from fixed cable to streaming services,” said Matt Helms, a spokesperson for the Public Services Commission, which regulates the natural gas, electrical and telecommunications industries in Michigan.
The cable industry has positioned itself for the transition by offering high-speed internet.
Cord-cutters say they do it to lower costs and better tailor their entertainment choices to their own interests — paying for the channels they routinely watch rather than the pay-on-price potpourri of traditional cable.
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