U.S. Pay-TV Subs to Rebound

BOSTON: The pay-TV market in the U.S. saw subscriber losses in 2013, though it's poised to return to growth this year, according to new research from Strategy Analytics.

In 2013, there was a 0.58-percent loss in total pay-TV subs in the U.S. The forecast is for a 0.14-percent increase in 2014.

IPTV is expected to be the bright spot of the pay-TV market in the U.S. Last year, IPTV subs grew by 17.5 percent year on year; this trend is expected to continue with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3 percent through 2019.

In the cable segment, Comcast has reversed a long-standing trend of subscriber losses, following the company’s rollout of its Xfinity X1 platform. Consolidation among U.S. cable operators should enable faster digital transitions and a wider deployment of technology platforms.

The U.S. pay-TV market is explored further in the Service Provider Strategies (SPS) service report North America Digital Television Forecast: 1Q 2014.

"Comcast has become a technology leader with its Xfinity X1 and X2 platforms as well as the RDK," said Jason Blackwell, the director of the SPS service. "This is driving a global trend where operators with advanced gateways and services have seen subscriber growth, better customer retention and higher average revenues per user."

"The digital transition has been a double-edged sword for the cable industry: Average revenues have risen, but higher prices have squeezed out some customers," added Eric Smith, analyst in the digital consumer practice. "We expect to see these customers return to pay TV gradually, albeit with different packages or different services than those they left and IPTV services in particular stand to gain the most."