[zaphar]

The singular feature of Sports is that the content is for the most part exclusive. You can't watch your hometown team anywhere else.

The Food Network shows have stars but the content and the stars are easily replaceble. Just look at Youtube cooking and home improvement shows. They offer the same content at approaching the same quality. I can easily see those types of shows getting replaced by viewers, and I can see it happening soon.

Those specific shows may not embrace cord cutting but they will and indeed are getting replaced by shows that do embrace cord cutting.

[twic]

Good point. But I suppose there are a handful of other shows which have the same naturally monopolistic property as sports. For example, there is, mercifully, only one Kim Kardashian, so there's no way to directly compete with that show.

[zaphar]

I don't know. It's true that there is only one Kim Kardashian. But Kim Kardashian archetype isn't that hard to replace. She's not famous because she's Kim Kardashian. She's famous for a bunch of other reasons that are not that difficult to replace. Even that show isn't really a monopoly that matters.