HBO's Web-only service could eradicate 7 percent of the pay-TV user base when it debuts this spring, according to a survey released Thursday by the research firm Parks Associates. About half the people interested in the service, which will allow users to subscribe to HBO directly, say they will discontinue their paid TV subscriptions once it becomes available.

“HBO picked a good time to announce its standalone HBO Go service in the U.S,” Parks Associates research analyst Glenn Hower said in a statement accompanying the research. HBO Go is already available as a standalone offering in parts of Scandinavia.

As a percentage of the total population, the number of people interested in HBO’s Web-only offering is relatively slim, just 17 percent, according to the Parks survey. Yet if half of that population does in fact decide to cut its cords, it will still dramatically shrink the overall size of the pay-TV market.

It could also cause a domino effect. According to separate research conducted by the Diffusion Group, about 15 percent of all pay-TV subscribers are, at any given time, considering getting rid of their cable TV subscriptions for so-called "over the top" or OTT services which bypass the cable box.

From the article "HBO's Web Offering Could Shave 7 Percent Off Pay TV's User Base: Study" by Max Willens.

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