Cord-Cutting Hits Cable Nets Across The Board
- by Wayne Friedman , April 25, 2016
Cable cord-cutting/shaving may be worse than expected. Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser says the latest estimates from Nielsen (its May 2016 results)
show a 3.2% year-over-year decline in cable TV homes and 2.2% in median decline in all pay TV homes (cable, satellite and telco).
“These figures suggest trends around 'cord-shaving'
may be accelerating,” he says.
Nielsen total TV homes are currently at 116.4 million; other research shows 96.6 million pay TV homes.
Wieser says the Disney group of networks may have the weakest results -- down 4.1% in median household decline. This ranges from a 2.8% drop for Disney Jr. to 4.7% off for ESPNU.
The next lowest is Viacom, slipping 3.6% for its 15 networks. NBCU and A+E Networks are each off 3.3%, followed by Scripps Networks Interactive, down 2.6%; AMC Networks, losing 2.2%; and Discovery Networks, giving up 2.8%.
On the flip side, Fox is among the best performers with only a 0.7% decline. Networks such as Fox Movie Channel, Fox Deportes, Fox Sports 2 and FXX grew.
Wieser says that among 122 measured networks, 30 had subscriber growth.
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It depends on whose expectations. At least it's cable taking on the chin instead of broadcasting.