WHITING: Almost half of American adults think cable TV is not worth the money they are paying, but a majority continue to subscribe to cable or satellite television services, a survey has revealed.

Harris Interactive polled 2,046 US adults in an online survey for CouponCabin.com, the one-stop coupon shop, and found that 45% of respondents felt they were paying too much for cable TV but 81% were still paying for just such a service.

"Despite the big bills that arrive month after month for TV services, most Americans continue to subscribe," said Jackie Warrick, senior savings adviser at CouponCabin.com.

Most (69%) were spending up to $100 a month, but 16% were shelling out between $101 and $149, while 10% were paying $150 to $199. And 5% were splurging $200 or more each month.

"As more viewing options arise at lower price points, it's likely more consumers will pull the plug," suggested Warrick.

This view was borne out by the survey, which found that among current cable subscribers, 56% would cut the cable cord if there were other less costly alternatives, while 55% said they would do so if they could no longer afford it.

Other possible reasons for cutting the cable cord cited by current subscribers included not watching TV often enough (27%), finding alternative ways to watch live broadcasts (17%) and only watching a few of the channels (17%).

Sports fans were identified as a group particularly reluctant to give up on cable, with 43% of respondents indicating that sports programming was the reason they would not be cancelling the service.

Although 14% of current cable subscribers said they would cancel if there were alternative ways to watch live sports broadcasts.

Even if cable viewers are loathe to cut the service, they are quite prepared to change their supplier. The survey found that 32% had switched because of issues such as inadequate customer service or poor picture quality.

Data sourced from PR Newswire; additional content by Warc staff