The cable cord-cutter has become a bit like the UFO. Lots of people, many in the tech community, want to believe they're everywhere, while a whole lot of other people—many in and around the cable industry—deny their existance altogether.
But one class of cord cutter—the kind that cancels cable TV service but holds on to cable broadband service—has finally begun showing up the in the financial reports of cable companies, and in the speeches of their executives.
Time Warner Cable's CFO Arthur Minson addressed the phenomenon at an investor conference in Barcelona last week, saying that his company is seeing an increased number of single-service broadband customers, as well as an increased number of customers who buy faster internet service tiers. Both of these things suggest a growing segment of cable customers who want to download a lot of rich media, like video.
Time Warner Cable, the second largest U.S. cable company, has roughly 5.5 million "single-play" customers, Minson said. About 3 million of those buy TV service alone, while about 2.5 million buy broadband service only. He didn't say how quickly either group was growing or shrinking.
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