turk_stock_photographer via Getty Images Close to half of Canada's households headed by someone under 30 are

If the habits of Canada's youngest independent households are a sign of things to come, the country's traditional cable and satellite TV providers will need to rethink their businesses. According to data from Winnipeg-based media consultancy Communications Management Inc., close to half of Canada's households headed by someone under 30 are "cord-cutter" or "cord-never" households, meaning they ditched cable or satellite TV, or never had it in the first place. Using data from a Statistics Canada household spending survey released in December, the study found that 44.5 per cent of under-30 households don't have cable or satellite. That compares to 31.2 per cent among those aged 30 to 39, and 18.9 per cent among the 40 to 54 crowd. Among those aged 65 and up, just 3.9 per cent cut the cord, or never had it.

Communications Management Inc. Younger households are much more likely not to pay for cable or satellite TV, according to a recent analysis.

Among all Canadian households, 17.8 per cent are now cord-cutters or cord-nevers, up from around 7 per cent in 2012.

Communications Management Inc. Cord-cutting households have steadily grown since 2012.

Although comparable numbers are hard to come by, it appears the shift away from cable and satellite is slower in Canada than it is in the U.S. A 2018 survey from eMarketer estimated that nearly 33 per cent of American adults will have ditched cable by the end of this year. The faster pace of cord-cutting in the U.S. may simply have to do with the fact that alternatives to cable have been slower to arrive in Canada. Watch: What's new on Netflix Canada in January. Story continues below.