Rocketing 2019 Cord Cutting Should Throttle Back This Year, S&P Says

MVPDs likely lost 6.2 percent of customers on cord cutting in 2019, above the 3.9 percent 2018 decline, S&P said Wednesday. It said those losses should moderate somewhat this year, at 5.1 percent, with direct broadcast satellite losses scaling back but cable subscriber losses accelerating. The firm said the bigger-than-expected 2019 losses were likely due to AT&T's DirecTV losing more than 12 percent of its customer base as it ended promotional pricing, while Dish Network likely lost more than 8 percent due to blackouts. S&P said vMVPDs likely have 10 to 15 percent of the pay-TV subs, but growth might wane because of rising prices. It said more midsized cable operators will likely follow Cable One in not offering their own video service. The debt ratings firm said lesser cord cutting in 2020 should come due to vMVPDs being less a competitive threat and as DBS has fewer losses.