Are the days of cord-cutting over? Traditional cable providers see first increase in subscribers in eight years

Is it too late to reconnect the cord?

For the first time in eight years, traditional cable providers saw an increase in subscribers. The rise came during third quarter of 2025 amid soaring streaming service fees.

Over 303,000 subscribers returned to traditional cable providers in Q3, Light Reading reports, citing MoffettNathanson’s latest Cord‑Cutting Monitor report.

Industry analysts attributed the increase to a combination of factors, most notably reduced subscriber losses among traditional providers and strong performance from internet‑based services known as virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPD).

Despite the encouraging figures, analysts warned that the gain may be temporary.

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Much of the growth was concentrated in the period coinciding with the start of the NFL regular season, a historically strong quarter for pay TV as millions of sports fans subscribe to access live games, and those trends could abate once the football season ends.

The overall subscriber count for pay TV, which encompasses cable, satellite, telco and vMVPD services, rose to an estimated 64.77 million in Q3, reversing a year‑on-year loss of 274,000 and marking a notable improvement in an industry long beset by cord‑cutting.

The annual rate of subscriber decline also eased, improving from ‑6.4 percent to ‑5.8 percent.

Within the traditional segment, cable and satellite providers still saw net losses, but at significantly reduced rates compared with the previous year. vMVPDs, led by services such as YouTube TV, contributed the bulk of the industry’s net growth, adding roughly 750,000 subscribers and pushing their total to more than 21 million.

Streaming services, once cheaper than cable, are getting more expensive. On average, U.S. viewers pay for four streaming services, spending $69 a month, up 13 percent from last year, according to Deloitte’s 19th annual Digital Media Trends report, published in March.

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Cable or satellite TV costs about $125 per month, but many streaming subscribers are frustrated by extra fees for new movies and regional sports blackouts.

Streaming blackouts happen because certain networks or channels have exclusive rights to show games in a team’s local area. This means other streaming services can’t show those live games in that region, often meaning subscribers must additionally pay for add-on services to watch their home teams.

Nearly half of streaming subscribers feel they pay too much, and 41 percent think the content isn’t worth the cost, according to the Digital Media Trends report.

Additionally, 60 percent said they would cancel if their favorite service raised its price by $5 per month.

One X user posted about the sky-high costs of streaming in October, asking if it was worth it to switch to cable after they claimed to be paying a monthly fee of $91 forYouTubeTV, $12 for Netflix. $15 for HBO Max and $10 for Peacock.

“Like the whole point of streaming was to cut down on cable costs. They became the evil they sought to destroy,” they wrote.

One person replied, saying that they valued cable for its “consistency of channel lineup and no service interruptions. “

“I never cut the cord bc in the end it was never truly much of a cost saver once you add back all the rest of the streamers and premium channels you want,” they responded.

Someone else, however, noted about the enticing variety of content across streaming services,” The problem with cable is that there’s nothing on it now, so what are you even paying for?”