"Research firm Nielsen Co. also says
the phenomenon is overstated. At a conference this summer, Howard Shimmel, a senior vice president at the company, said cord-cutting is mainly isolated to
young, emerging households that aren't watching much online programming either."
Cable fears TV viewers will cut the cord | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Where exactly are they getting programming?

Are they just not watching, or are they watching in HD for free?
"Many college kids and younger consumers who are accustomed to getting video for free are simply never becoming cable subscribers. They can't cut that cord, because they never signed on to use it to begin with. Furthermore, there's the fact that cable companies actually are losing current subscribers."
Cord cutting is real. Even if cable companies won't acknowledge it yet. | Econsultancy