Cord cutters rejoice; a survey found that about 90 percent of the top-five networks’ content was aired for free online.
The survey by Clicker found that ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and The CW posted roughly 4,420 full episodes online from 127 shows last season, which comes to roughly 90 percent of the total number of shows but didn’t include primetime sporting events and NFL-related shows.
Clicker, which bills itself as a TV guide for the Internet, found that 50 percent of the episodes came online within a day of their original airdates.
The downside for cord cutters is that the content wasn’t online very long, with 60 percent of the shows offline within three weeks of their original airdates.
Among the network broadcasters, ABC and CBS had the most shows available online, with ABC holding a slight edge. The CW had the highest percentage of shows available online at 100 percent last season.
CBS was tops in terms of the total number of episodes, having posted just under 1,750 online.
While Clicker’s survey indicated a preponderance of online content from the network broadcasters, there were some holdouts, including ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” CBS’ “Cold Case” and Fox’s “American Idol.”
