U.S. ‘Cord Cutting’ Sets New High. Again.

Back in 2019, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge proudly declared that the trend of cord cutting - or people ditching traditional cable television and switching to streaming - was finally coming to an end. According to Rutledge, the worst was now behind the cable industry, and the trend was finally slowing down.

Yeah, about that.

According to analysis from Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson, the U.S. pay TV business had its worst third-quarter in history with roughly 889,000 cable TV subscribers cutting the cord. All told, traditional cable, satellite and telco TV providers lost 11.7% of their total subscribers year over year, and the phenomenon shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.

Live TV, in general, isn't doing very well, including live streaming services like Sling TV or YouTube TV, which offer a rotating platter of live TV channels via the internet. In fact, MoffettNathanson found that only 21.7% of cord cutters signed up for a live streaming TV service (also known as vMVPDs) in the third quarter, a drop from 31% a share one year earlier.

All told, the idea of traditional, ad-based live television simply doesn't interest a growing share of Americans, especially the younger ones.

Many users continue to flock to on demand streaming services like Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Max, though there too there's trouble in paradise. Executive incompetence, mindless consolidation, and the nickel-and-diming of subscribers has many streaming customers reconsidering the value proposition there as well, as the sector starts to look more like the traditional cable sector it disrupted.

That will only drive renewed interest in free video services like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and whatever comes next. I'd also suspect it will drive a renewed interest in piracy, something the larger sector will blame on everything and everyone but themselves.