Originally posted Tuesday, March 12, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Atlanta is not a market one of the bigger markets for cord cutting.
About 11 percent of homes in the metro area choose not to subscribe to cable or satellite, according to the latest Nielsen data. About half of the "cord cutters" only watch broadcast TV or about 5.5 percent. The other half uses a combination of a "skinny bundle" via streaming or some use of Netflix, Hulu and the like.
In comparison, nearly a quarter of the Phoenix market has cut the cord, with Dallas, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Denver in the top 5 among major markets.
Atlanta is relatively low when it comes to cord cutting, comparable to markets such as Tampa, Baltimore and San Francisco. The lowest cord cutting major markets are Boston and New York, which may be in part because of the urban density that make using digital antennas less viable.
Nationally, 89 million of American households now have cable or satellite subscriptions. That’s the lowest since 2007 and down about 10 percent from a peak of 99 million in 2012.
The losses appear to be accelerating. In 2018 alone, there was a net loss of 2.9 million, according to the latest study by Leichtman Research Group.
About 16 million homes accessed over the air (OTA) television with antennas, according to Nielsen data from May 2018. About 41 percent did not have access to streaming services.
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