Myth or Mess?

As BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield views the so-called cord-cutting phenomenon as more mythical than actual in today’s world, he does allow that consumers’ abandonment of pay TV in favor of cheaper alternatives may become a major threat to cable/DBS/telco ops 3-5 years hence. To gain some clarity on the related views and usage trends in the current market, BTIG interviewed more than 1,200 multichannel subs and found that the results intimated an 8% risk of cord-cutting. Even so, Greenfield believes the risk is still well below that number, primarily because the survey skewed to the most likely age groups to cord-cut, to homes that are far less interested in TV than the avg US homes and toward Netflix customers. Of the 98 respondents that are considering a cancellation of their video service, 46% watch 2 hours/day of TV (below the approx 4-hr/day avg) and 67% are younger than 34. Below is a sampling of results from BTIG’s survey.