In a report on “The State of Cordcutting,” using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, TiVo’s Annual Survey and Leichtman Research Group, Raleigh’s widely available broadband internet put the City of Oaks on top of cities nationwide where it makes sense to cut the cord.
CordCutting.com — a group with an obvious agenda — ranked cities based on the growth and penetration of broadband and the available speed of download. It found 90.7% of households in Raleigh have access to broadband, a key factor to streaming video.
Combined with the increasing cost of cable or satellite TV, widespread broadband is a driving factor in cord cutting. According to Pew Research, nearly 30 percent of American adults watch TV mostly via streaming. Of those ages 18-29, 61 percent do most of their views on a streaming service.
Cities, especially cities that are home to technology companies, lead the way in the availability of broadband. Penetration in rural areas remains a challenge. Outside of the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte metropolitan areas, North Carolina’s overall broadband penetration is 81.6%, about even with the national average.
Still, Raleigh, with high broadband availability paired with high available download speeds, pushed to the top of the list of cities where a broadband and corresponding cord cutting boom are predicted in 2019.
