Cable TV subscriptions

One of the quieter triumphs of the 21st century is that we now discover more near-Earth asteroids while watching less cable television. Whether this represents progress or merely reallocation of attention is left as an exercise for the reader. The asteroids don't care.

Cable subscriptions have been declining for years as streaming eats the market, with 2020 accelerating the cord-cutting exodus, while near-Earth asteroid discoveries have grown steadily on the back of better sky surveys, new telescopes, and upgraded software pipelines. Two trends with entirely different mechanics — one shrinking, one growing — that both had unusually notable 2020 years. The common variable is time, not television.

So the correlation is the accidental harmony of two unrelated curves. One medium is slowly dying; one sky survey is slowly succeeding. Neither is watching the other.