This time a year ago, the television industry was rife with worry about so-called cord-cutting — people dropping cable subscriptions in favor of watching TV over the Internet.

But for the most part, the cords remain intact, the latest crop of earnings reports indicate. Considering the fragile economy, cable and satellite subscriptions seem to be faring better than the industry had feared and its Internet rivals had hoped.

Even as Internet video viewing increases, the vast majority of American households are still paying for television subscriptions and watching most video that way. Those who are canceling are doing so, it seems, because of poverty, not improved technology.

“Overwhelmingly, the losses are coming at the low end of the income spectrum,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein. Most such cord-cutters do not have a broadband Internet connection, he said.