Following numerous reports that "cord cutting" did not represent a serious threat to cable television operators, Nielsen said on Wednesday that the number of households that have dropped their satellite TV subscriptions and relied exclusively on broadband Internet access to watch TV had grown 22.8 percent over the last year. While such households now represent fewer than 5 percent of all TV households, the growing number was described by Nielsen as "a development to watch." Another development was more or less the converse side of the issue. Said Nielsen "Further underscoring the importance placed on broadband Internet, the number of homes subscribing to cable-plus and no broadband decreased 17.1 percent since last year."

09/02/2012