With the rise of cable television, the era of free TV would seem to be over; but in reality, it may be beginning. While cable programming now regularly rivals or surpasses the ratings of broadcast shows, many consumers never actually pay to watch cable. In fact, 13 percent of households with broadband Internet service don’t have cable or satellite; among those, 2.6 million users say they’ve never paid for television—whether premium cable network, a generic cable subscription or access to satellite. About 29 percent of those 2.6 million people are between the ages of 18 and 24—suggesting that youth are used to watching whatever they want to watch online without having to pay for it. Many television executives believe those youth will change their habits as they get older. As they move into better jobs, these Millennials most likely will spend some of their take-home pay for satellite service or a subscription to HBO; but some analysts aren’t so sure.

“Now, the response of the operators is, ‘Oh no, when they get their real job and start making money and start raising a family, they’ll go back to having pay-TV,'” says Michael Greeson, a founding partner at TDG, which researches television trends. “Who says that’s a certainty when the cost of a pay-TV subscription is going to be $160 a month, and at the same time, the number of options available online is going to increase? You’re talking historically about what you’ve seen from young people, not about this new crop of young people who were raised in a world with computers and watching online video on a regular basis.” (Time)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.