Disconnect: Nielsen says more watching TV; Yankee says cord-cutters increasing

So what is it? Are people watching more shows on TV or are they cutting the cord with their cable companies and watching the shows over the Internet on PCs and cell phones? Or are they watching the Internet on TV?

The latest Nielsen Television Audience Report said that the number of U.S. households with three or more TV sets increased to 55 percent while 28 percent had two sets and 17 percent had one set. Less than 10 percent of viewers, the report concluded, watched only over-the-air television with 70 percent watching cable, 33 percent DBS and 10 percent with both (we only report the figures, we don't make or add them up). Forty-six percent had HD.

So how does that jive with a report by Yankee Group analyst Vince Vittore that suggests within the next year one in eight viewers will cancel monthly subscriptions in favor of watching TV on computers, game consoles or "other connected devices?"

Vittore laid the cord-cutting at the feet of cable companies because of the "astounding rise in cable prices" that he said will force more consumers to drop cable and make Internet TV "more attractive by the day."

For more:
- see this report summary (pdf)
- and this story
- and this story

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