The rate of cord-cutting, or ditching your pay-tv provider, has nearly doubled between 2017 and 2018, with 2.8 million Americans cutting the cord in 2018 alone, according to Leichtman Research. Most of those Americans left satellite TV; 2.3 Americans decided to lose satellite in 2018. DIRECTV took a major hit last year, losing 1.2 million customers alone. Cable television also saw big losses, losing 910,000 customers in 2018, much larger than the loss of 680,000 losses in 2017.
Television delivered by the internet, however, did see gains. SlingTV and DIRECTV NOW signed up 640,000 customers in 2018. Leichtman Research reports that pay-TV has been on the decline since 2012, citing that over 6 million Americans have cut the cord since then, as Americans look for better deals and variety through services like Netflix and Hulu.
