Top 10 U.S. Pay TV Operators Lose Over 400K Subscribers in Q2
The top 10 U.S. pay TV operators had shown a small gain in subscribers in the first quarter of 2015, but that was wiped out by second quarter figures, reports research company Informitv.
Collectively, the top 10 lost over 400,000 subscribers in Q2. The biggest loser is DirecTV, which saw an erosion of 133,000 subs and now counts 20.3 million subscribers. Following that, Dish lost 81,000, Comcast lost 69,000, and Time Warner Cable lost 45,000. Comcast is the largest pay TV provider, with 22.3 million subscribers. The totals for Dish include Sling TV subscribers. Sling TV counted 169,000 subscribers at the end of March.
Only one of the top 10 providers experienced a subscriber gain in Q2: Verizon FIOS saw a 26,000 subscriber increase.
Informativ notes that the top 10 pay TV services now serve 87.5 million homes in the U.S. One year ago they served 87.7 million. While streaming services are gaining ground, it's worth noting that traditional pay TV services are still giant.
“With regular reports of television subscriber losses, it appears that many of these services are struggling to maintain customer numbers in a mature competitive market,” notes Dr. William Cooper, editor of the Informitv Multiscreen Index which published the numbers. “The figures must be viewed in perspective. The overall loss is less than 0.5 percent of their combined subscriber base.”
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