Cord Cutting: Existential Threat to CNN, MSNBC Accelerates

A new report shows that cable and satellite pay TV providers lost 380,000 customers over this quarter last year. Over the last 12 months, the number of customers declined by 911,000, up from 258,000 the previous year. That might represent only a little over 1% of overall customers. But the pace of what is known as cord cutting is accelerating -- as is an existential threat to the survival of CNN and MSNBC.

As hard as it is to believe, CNN and MSNBC are both safely profitable. You might wonder how that is possible with only a half-million or less viewers, but it is in part thanks to a racket known as bundled cable. If you want Fox News (or any other cable-only channel) but the only way to get it is through an expensive cable/satellite package that includes CNN and/or MSNBC (and a hundred other channels you never watch), chances are a piece of your cable bill is keeping CNN and MSNBC profitable and alive.

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