[vonskippy]

"Except for one little problem: the economics of cord-cutting simply don’t make sense, for neither networks nor viewers."

I think he doth protest to much.

Cord cutting makes PERFECT SENSE for the viewer.

We haven't had Cable/Sat in our house for over 5 years. Don't miss it (or it's outrageous cost) a bit.

[ssharp]

Cord cutting sucks for people who like to watch live sports in the US.

We've been cable free for a little over a year now and I've missed two sets of NBA playoffs. I chomp at the bit to watch playoff basketball for two months and finally get my fill when the Finals come and are put on a broadcast network (ABC).

If I want to pay to watch the NBA playoffs without cable I can, I just have buy an NBA League Pass (which I'm cool with) and then pay for a VPN service and route all my traffic to another country (which I'm not cool with).

[jenningsjason]

Sports is how cable (and satellite) empires are built. Take, for example, the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV. The NFL has sold exclusive rights, in the US at least, to DirecTV. Hardcore NFL fans, and there are a lot of us, wouldn't even consider cable, let alone cord cutting, until NFL Sunday Ticket is available through some other distribution network.

The same is true in the UK for Premiership Soccer, and I'm sure it's true for other sports in other countries.

[GFischer]

If Netflix had live soccer here in Uruguay, it would put all cable providers out of business - it MASSIVELY underprices them and has a vastly better service.

It's currently about U$ 40 for the cable tv basic package, as there's a flaunted "oligo"(mono)poly here, which even managed to outlaw Carlos Slim's company - he doesn't care because Uruguay is not a relevant market.

Local football matches and European football drive a lot of cable packages, along with HBO and kids' shows and series (which are mostly available on Netflix).

[apendleton]

Like I said in a different response, cord cutting makes perfect sense for viewers as long as it's only a few viewers. The production of the content the cord cutters are watching is being subsidized by people who haven't cut the cord yet. That content might not be created in the first place if everyone went the cord-cutting route.

[stonemetal]

What makes you say that? Cord cutters still pay for the content they consume. All that is happening is we are trading one middle man for another (ABC, CBS, FOX for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu ) Cord cutter content prices will rise as the balance of power shifts.