ESPN Study Throws Cold Water on 'Cord-Cutting' Fears NY Times

A new ESPN study of "cord-cutting," or consumer disconnection from cable TV service, has concluded that such cancellations are currently a “very minor” phenomenon, the New York Times reports.

"The study provides a new answer, or at least a new set of data, for a question that looms over the television industry: how many Americans are dropping their costly cable subscriptions and watching TV on the Internet instead?" the Times said.

ESPN's study, being released today, found that cord-cutting has occurred 0.28% of U.S. households in last three months, However, it also found that 0.17% of households that had been broadcast-only signed up for pay TV and broadband, offsetting the cord-cutting, the Times said.

“So the net amount of cord-cutting for one quarter was just one-tenth of 1 percent,” the report quoted ESPN VP for Integrated Media Research Glenn Enoch as saying.