In-Stat Reports Q2 Fall in U.S. Pay-TV Subs

SCOTTSDALE: The number of U.S. pay-TV homes fell by 167,000 subscribers in the second quarter, according to In-Stat, largely as a result of the difficult economy and high unemployment rate.

“While growing availability of over-the-top Internet video is spurring talk of mass ‘cord-cutting,’ this decline is not about canceling pay-TV in favor of Internet video," reports Mike Paxton, principal analyst at In-Stat. "The main driver of this subscriber decline is the struggling U.S. economy and high unemployment.”

According to a recent SNL Kagan report, the U.S. multichannel industry lost 216,000 customers in Q2, as compared with the year-ago gain of 378,000.