New Report Predicts Further North American Pay-TV Declines

LONDON: Digital TV Research projects that the number of non-pay-TV homes in Canada and the U.S. will rise from 20.69 million in 2012 to 41.56 million in 2022.

In that same period, the number of pay-TV subs will drop by 9 percent from 112 million to 102 million. In 2022, pay-TV penetration will be 75.2 percent, down from 87.4 percent in 2013.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, notes, “Where are the lost subscribers in the decade to 2022 going? Some analog cable subscribers will give up paying for TV services rather than convert to an often more expensive digital platform. Cord-cutting is also a factor. It has been somewhat exacerbated by the traditional pay-TV operators starting their own OTT platforms: satellite TV platform Dish provides Sling TV and DirecTV Now has recently started. Other distractions include Hulu, HBO Now and, of course, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.”

Pay-TV revenues in North America are expected to fall by 12.7 percent to $94.82 billion in 2022.