[Infowarrior] - Debunked: Cord Cutters Young, Educated And Employed

[Richard Forno]

Cord Cutters Young, Educated And Employed
And nary a Puppy Chow afficionado among them...
by Karl Bode Friday 29-Oct-2010 tags: Video · business · bandwidth · consumers
Tipped by Gbcue 

As we noted at great length yesterday, the cable industry (and Wall Street analysts pushing cable stocks) first insisted that TV cord cutters weren't real. Then as data emerged showing TV cord cutters were very real and leaving due to high cable TV prices, the cable industry (and Wall Street analysts pushing cable stocks) began arguing these users were poor and unimportant. Yesterday telecom sector quote machine Craig Moffett took this to a new level, declaring cord cutters to be little more than middle-aged poor nobodies eating dog food. However, as Strategy Analytics notes, that's not supported by the facts.

"Cord cutting is real...we’ve been saying it for years...and now, the numbers bear it out." says Strategy Analytics' Ben Piper. "In our latest report, we analyze results of our recently-fielded survey of 2,000 Americans, which shows that 13% of Americans intend to cut the cord in the next 12 months -- and it's not "poor" forty-somethings settling for a "dog’s breakfast."

So if these users aren't fat slobs living in their mom's basement eating puppy chow to save a buck, who are they? According to Piper:

•54% of likely cord cutters are under 40 (as if being 40 is the worst thing in the world anyway).

•97% have graduated high school and 69% have or are pursuing higher degrees.

•91% are employed, full time students, or retired

•57% make more than $50,000 a year

That's a far cry from the picture being painted by the cable sector and Craig Moffett -- to help cable stocks remain stable in the face of  unsustainable business models and the inevitable rise of Internet video. In fact as we looked around at some of the inbound links to our story yesterday (see Techdirt and NewTeeVee), it was particularly interesting to look at story comments and the flood of very real cord cutters tired of overpriced TV and poor service......

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http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Cord-Cutters-Young-Educated-And-Employed-111157