All-time high US cord cutting ‘freaking ugly’, claims MoffettNathanson

Cord cutting in the US is expected to reach an all-time high of 5.5% in Q2.

According to equity research company MoffettNathanson, the figure is predicted to be reached once all Q2 reports are rendered. 

AT&T, Comcast and Charter Communications, three major US telcos that have already released their quarterly results, have lost a combined total of around 1.2 million pay-TV subscribers.

MoffettNathanson principle analyst Craig Moffett was frank in his description of the situation, saying: “With Comcast’s, AT&T’s and Charter’s 2Q earnings in the books, the read on traditional cord-cutting is freaking ugly.”

The firm also predicts that skinny bundles delivered OTT will also see a shrinkage of 2.7%.

Moffett continued: “While we applaud our company’s efforts to turn their stories around and build their respective lifeboats for the future, the data points raise serious concerns over the rate of decay of the traditional ecosystem. Man the lifeboats!”  

However, this assertion came before Dish announced losses of 79,000 customers – significantly lower than the analyst-predicted 350,000 – while its Sling TV virtual MVPD adding 48,000 customers. It was predicted that Sling TV would only add 15,000 subscribers.