Is TV Sports Getting So Expensive That Customers Are Finally Cutting The Cord?

At this point, it’s a hoary old saw that sports networks and broadcasts of live sporting events are one of the main reasons your pay-TV bills continue to rise. We all kind of “know” that sports are expensive, and that the costs come through to everyone else… but as millions of dollars in charges and fees become billions, are consumers and viewers going to stick around?

That’s what the Los Angeles Times is asking today, after a look at the best-available numbers.

Since 2005 — so, in just over a decade — the amount of available sports programming across broadcast and cable networks has gone up 160%, to more than 127,000 hours per year, the L.A. Times reports. And people are watching what’s on offer: we collectively spent 31 billion hours watching sports on TV last year, a 40% increase over the last decade.

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