I can't speak for the US but in the UK the primary driver for satellite television is sports. People don't pay almost $200 a month for what can be had on Netflix and NowTV.

In fact I remember the panic from Sky when courts forced Sky to basically give up some of the EPL games. Sports is huge in the pay tv arena.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/170d365a-97ec-11e3-ab60-00144feab7...