Cable Has Lost 3.4 Million TV Customers Since 2012
The cord cutting phenomenon saw a slight slowdown during the first quarter, with the nation's biggest pay TV providers losing "just" 305,000 subscribers during the first quarter. According to the latest study from Leichtman Research, that's a notable improvement from the half a million subscribers the industry lost one year earlier. That said, Leichtman's numbers tend to be notably lower than many Wall Street analyst estimates, and the cord cutting phenomenon is expected to heat back up during the second quarter, when many college students go home for the summer.
And Leichtman makes it very clear that the trend of cord cutting isn't going anywhere, as users continue to express fatigue at high prices and poor customer service by shifting to streaming alternatives.
"The number of pay-TV subscribers for the top providers peaked six years ago. Since 1Q 2012, top providers have lost about 3.4 million total pay-TV subscribers," analyst Bruce Leichtman stated. "Since the industry’s peak, traditional services have lost about 7.2 million subscribers, while the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered services gained about 3.8 million subscribers."
Satellite TV providers continued to be the hardest hit during the quarter, with DirecTV losing 188,000 traditional satellite customers, and Dish losing 185,000 traditional satellite customers. And while both AT&T and Dish managed to recoup some of those losses via their streaming video services (DirecTV Now and Sling TV, respectively), customers of those services pay significantly less money per month, a trend that continues to worry Wall Street investors all too comfortable with the traditional cable TV cash cow.
More details on losses broken down by delivery type:
• The top six cable companies lost about 285,000 video subscribers in 1Q 2018 -- compared to a loss about 115,000 subscribers in 1Q 2017
• Satellite TV services lost about 375,000 subscribers in 1Q 2018 -- compared to a loss of about 340,000 subscribers in 1Q 2017
• The top telephone providers lost about 50,000 video subscribers in 1Q 2018 -- compared to a loss of 325,000 subscribers in 1Q 2017
LittleTeenyTiny on May 18th, 2018 at 16:41 UTC »
I pay $93 a month for internet, Hulu, Netflix and HBO. I was paying $170 before that for my cable package which did not include HBO and did include mostly channels I did not bother watching.
ziggyjoe212 on May 18th, 2018 at 15:36 UTC »
That's nothing. I expected it to be in the dozens of millions. at least
kianworld on May 18th, 2018 at 15:23 UTC »
wow that's not much