North American Pay-TV Revenues Forecast to Fall by $50 Billion

Pay-TV revenues in Canada and the U.S. peaked in 2015 at $112 billion, and Digital TV Research is forecasting that revenues will fall by $50 billion to $62 billion in 2025.

Cable revenues are forecast to decline by $22 billion, with $3 billion less from analog cable and $19 billion lower for digital cable. Satellite TV will fall by $21 billion, and IPTV will slip by $7 billion.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “The loss of 42 million pay-TV subscribers between 2010 and 2025 is mostly responsible for this decline. Operators now put more emphasis on broadband connections than on traditional pay-TV channels.”

Murray continued: “Subscribers are turning against high traditional pay-TV fees by seeking cheaper alternatives. OTT allows viewers to see what they want when they want—they are not tied to the channels’ schedules. The value of the linear schedule for recorded programming is rapidly diminishing.”