The Percentage of U.S. Who Subscribe to Wired Cable is Lowest It's Been Since November 1989 TVNewsCheck

"[W]ired-cable penetration represented 60.7% of households in November 2010, down from 61.7% in November 2009. The only time it had been lower was in November 1989 when wired-cable penetration was at 59.7%, writes TVNewsCheck, citing data from Nielsen.

At the same time, the story notes, "national alternate delivery system penetration reached 30.5% of television households last month, an all-time high that represents 33.7% of subscription television customers (those paying for video delivery), another all-time high.

Furthermore, the article quotes Susan Cuccinello, SVP, research, TVB (a TV station advocacy group) saying, ""In fact, in 34 markets, a majority of those paying for video programming are now getting that programming via ADS rather than from a wired-cable system. Local cable commercials are not seen in ADS homes, and so local advertisers need to deduct the ADS percentage of the audience if they are included in the cable systems’ submissions.”