Yeah, cable television isn’t a necessity, and it isn’t cheap. But according to a new poll by our friends over at Coupon Cabin, most American households pay up anyway, even if they acknowledge that cable is kind of a waste of money.

How many people agree with that statement? Their survey sample of 2,000 wasn’t picked to perfectly mirror the American population, but 45 percent agreed that paying for cable is a waste of money. However, 81% of respondents said that they have cable, which means that there must be some overlap between the groups: a population that says “yep, cable is a waste of money, but I need it anyway.”

Why is that? While 11% of respondents say that they used to be cable customers and no longer are, 43% of people taking the survey say they won’t ditch their cable provider because they want sports programming. Live sports programming. 14% of survey respondents say that if they had an alternate way to watch games, they’d consider canceling cable.

Most respondents (69%) say that they spend $100 or less on cable per month, but “less than $100” also includes “$0.”

Cable Costs Survey [CouponCabin]

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