U.S. Pay-TV Subs Up in First Quarter

LONDON: The top 10 pay-TV services in the U.S. collectively gained 54,800 digital television subscribers in the first quarter of 2015, according to the latest Multiscreen Index from informitv.

The combined subscriber counts show an improvement on the loss of 232,100 over the previous three quarters.

Verizon made the greatest gains, adding 90,000 FiOS video customers, with AT&T adding 49,000 U‑verse video subscribers. DIRECTV added 60,000 subscribers, while DISH Network lost 134,000. Comcast shed 8,000 television customers, removing a small gain from the previous quarter. Time Warner Cable added 30,000 television subscribers, ending a long run of consecutive quarterly customer losses. Charter and Cablevision lost 7,000 and 28,000 television customers, respectively, but Mediacom and Suddenlink reported marginal subscriber gains.

Between them, the top 10 services account for 87.72 million homes in the United States. That is an increase of 1.32 million over three years.

“Some operators have sustained heavy subscriber losses over the last year but there are signs that the decline may be slowing,” said Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “The telcos are continuing to gain customers and the total number of subscribers for these ten services has risen as a result.”