***Story originally aired July 4, 2013***
Many Canadians are dumping their traditional cable packages to watch TV on their computers, according to a recent study.
Rebecca Cook is part of the growing trend of people who are logging on to their computers to watch TV online.
"I got this laptop and it was quite an investment, but I'm going to keep this for a long time. I’m going to use this as my TV for a few years," she said.
A survey by the Convergence Consulting Group found a quarter of a million Canadians pulled the plug on their cable subscription last year and that number is expected to grow to 400,000 by the end of 2013.
"It's just more convenient to have one means of watching entertainment,” said Samantha Claggett, who watches TV online.
Statistics show 40 per cent of young adults, aged 17-24, are now mainly watching TV online, turning to services like Netflix or Apple and Google TV consoles to stream movies and TV shows. But even online, that pay-per-view programming can come at a cost.
"When you start doing the math, paying the fees that are involved with having that membership to that, it's much like buying cable," said David Okrusko of Advanced Electronics.
If you don't want to pay, most network websites, like CTV, will post your favourite shows shortly after they air. You won't get it live, but you will get it for free.
Still, despite the cord cutters, cable and satellite providers signed up 52,000 new subscribers last year. But it's a sharp drop from the 233,000 new subscribers in 2011.
Many online TV fans aren't surprised by those numbers and predict cable TV will suffer the same fate as video rental stores like Blockbuster.
