Are Cord-Cutters Killing Cable Companies? Not So Fast

A watched pot has finally boiled.

The U.S. pay-TV industry suffered a subscriber decline in 2013, according to a report from financial services firm SNL Kagan. The contraction, the first ever for a full year, represents a long-anticipated turning point at which industry watchers can finally declare that the traditional cable model is in decline.

The details are more complicated, however, and provide an idea of why cable companies like Comcast have been working for years to expand into new businesses.

SNL Kagan found an overall loss of about 251,000 customers out of  100 million subscribers, approximately 0.2% of the market. However, two of the three segments of the multichannel market grew — telecoms (like Verizon FiOS) and satellite companies (DISH Network and DirecTV) — while traditional cable companies (such as Comcast) declined. Read more...