Cord-Cutting Has ‘Accelerated Markedly’: Craig Moffett

MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said in a report that while the overall US pay-TV universe grew subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2014, it did not keep up with the rate of new household formation, meaning that he pace of cord-cutting is actually on the rise.

"On the surface, all is calm,” he wrote, noting that the total pay-TV subscriber base rose by 101,000 subscribers. It gets messy, he added, when those numbers are held against a surge in new household formation in the fourth quarter (1.3 million, according to the US Census Bureau) that typically “provides a tailwind for Pay TV subscribership.” While conceding that government occupied household data is “notoriously volatile and therefore slightly suspicious,” Moffett said the adjusted numbers indicate that cord-cutting (mixed with cord-nevers) “appears to have markedly increased.”