According to Parks Associates, nearly one-fourth of pay TV broadband subscribers in the U.S. modified their pay TV service in the past year. These changes included almost as many upgrades as downgrades with 11 percent of pay TV customers downgrading services and 9 percent upgrading services.

These variations may reflect consumers desire to cut costs, as well as the ever-evolving options that pay TV affords with new series continually premiering on a variety of platforms. According to Brett Sappington, Park Associates Director of Research, “With the hype around new OTT video services, people are considering their options in video services; at the same time, a notable portion of consumers are upgrading their pay TV services to higher tiers or premium features.”

For billing and subscriber management suppliers, such as Great Lakes Data Systems (GLDS), these churn rates indicate a growing need for broadband capacity, as pay TV providers and customers strive to provide households with optimum broadband service, as well as a greater variety entertainment platforms.

This increasingly growing market requires top-notch subscriber management services to accommodate the constant changes in subscription packages in real-time. One of the great advantages of GLDS’ self-care portal CableAnytime is that subscribers can manage account access for TV Everywhere content platforms, enabling them to upgrade to premium content immediately, without prolonged wait times. Also, new WinCable features let consumers correlate service codes with content provider programming, in order for GLDS to access subscriber accounts to authorize upgrade requests.

In a world of ever-increasing entertainment choices, where binge-watching on-demand programming has become the norm, pay TV subscribers want to enjoy immediate access to the latest shows. GLDS’ subscription platforms ensure customer satisfaction that has a direct impact on the efficiency and value of pay TV providers.