Premium TV channels still growing despite paid TV dying off

Though cable companies are still dragging their feet, it is now clear that streaming video is the future of television. Subscriptions for streaming video services such as Netflix and Hulu are rising fast and hardware manufacturers are preparing to flood consumer markets with internet-connected video devices in the coming years.

Yesterday the NPD released data from a survey showing fewer US TV watchers are subscribing to premium cable channels, but now the networks say that isn’t true. First reported on the LA Times Company Town blog, spokespeople from HBO, Showtime and Starz refuted the numbers. Of the three, only Starz is publicly traded and reports its subscriber count quarterly, so it has the most detailed stats. While the fourth quarter numbers won’t be out for another month or so, its customer count is at 22 million as of Q3, up 1.2 million from a year before, and 1.9 million 18 months prior.