Cord-Cutting Putting Pay TV on Pace to Disappear in 12 Years, Says Moffett

The return of live sports may temporarily reduce pressure on the cord-cutting cycle of fewer subscribers resulting in higher prices, but another wave of cord cutting "more damaging than the first," may be coming, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Wednesday. As people leave traditional pay TV for direct-to-consumer alternatives, the best content follows them, thus helping accelerate cord cutting, he said. The current rate of cord-cutting is 7.7%-8.3% a year, up from 5.4% last year, meaning the traditional pay-TV bushiness could disappear in 12 years, he said. Cord cutting is exploding, but some dropping of cable subscriptions may only be temporary due to the pandemic, CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson blogged Wednesday. Sports "will eventually come back to TV," and sports fans will re-up their subscriptions, he said. As the economy picks up, people also will find it easier to justify the monthly cable subscription, he said. The pandemic's shutdown of creation of new programming content also is hurting subscriptions for now, he said.