Sports is how cable (and satellite) empires are built. Take, for example, the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV. The NFL has sold exclusive rights, in the US at least, to DirecTV. Hardcore NFL fans, and there are a lot of us, wouldn't even consider cable, let alone cord cutting, until NFL Sunday Ticket is available through some other distribution network.

The same is true in the UK for Premiership Soccer, and I'm sure it's true for other sports in other countries.