informitv: Top 10 U.S. Pay-TV Providers Lost 212,000 Subs in Q1

The top 10 television service providers in the U.S. lost more than 200,000 subscribers between them in the first quarter of 2018, according to the informitv Multiscreen Index.

Among the top 10 services, there were 373,000 fewer satellite subscribers and 245,000 fewer cable television customers. Online TV services DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV gained a total of 427,000 customers, resulting in an overall loss of 0.25 percent of the subscriber base across the top 10 services. The top 10 services for the U.S. in the Multiscreen Index have just over 84 million television customers between them, accounting for over 70 percent of television homes.

DIRECTV lost 188,000 satellite television subscribers, although AT&T U-verse ended a run of TV customer losses. DIRECTV NOW added 336,000 online subscribers, taking its total to 1.42 million, giving AT&T an overall net gain of 149,000, with 25.32 million subscribers across its services in the U.S.

DISH Network lost 185,000 satellite television subs, taking its total down to 10.85 million, but added 91,000 Sling TV customers.

Comcast lost 93,000 TV subscribers, marking its fourth consecutive quarterly custom loss, down 310,000 year on year, taking its total to 21.21 million.

Charter Spectrum lost 122,000 television subs, down 314,000 year on year, to a total of 16.42 million.

Verizon Fios shed 22,000 subs, down 84,000 year on year, to give it a total of 4.60 million.

Altice USA leaked 23,000 Optimum TV customers and 7,000 Suddenlink subscribers, with a collective loss of nearly 125,000 year on year, for a combined total of 3.38 million TV customers.

“The DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV online services are continuing to gain customers at the expense of traditional television platforms,” said Dr William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “We now include them as distinct services in our index and they are now among the top 10 in the United States, above some of the smaller cable services.”