Cable subscriptions numbers decline over the years, here's why

State data shows nearly half of Massachusetts stopped being cable subscribers in recent years, proving that streaming services are the new way to watch TV.

Data from the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable says that cable subscriptions in Massachusetts have fallen almost 45% from their peak, dropping from 2.19 million in 2013 to fewer than 1.2 million as of December 2024. Those numbers are lower than in 2000, when state data begins.

In 2000, roughly 1.9 million Massachusetts residents tuned in to local and national channels through a cable connection. Over the next decade, subscriptions climbed past 2 million and plateaued around 2.1 million before a steep decline began in the late 2010s.

Subscriber counts have now plunged by hundreds of thousands each year and