Top U.S. Pay Platforms Lost 2.3 Million Subs in Q1

The top ten U.S. pay-TV providers shed 2.33 million customers in the first quarter of this year, bringing their combined base down to 75 million, per the informitv Multiscreen Index.

Just two years ago, the top ten providers serviced more than 84 million customers. “This is the largest quarterly loss of television subscribers in the United States we have reported to date,” noted Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to this, but many service providers have been losing subscribers for some time. Notably, their newer online services are now no exception to this trend.”

“It is difficult to determine how far these losses can be attributed to economic conditions and how much to an accelerating long-term structural decline,” added informitv analyst Dr. Sue Farrell.

AT&T lost the most subs, with 897,000 lost Premium TV customers and 135,000 fewer AT&T TV NOW customers. DISH Network’s satellite base fell by 382,000 subs, while the Sling TV MVPD lost 281,000. Comcast lost 388,000 television subscribers. Verizon television subscribers declined by 84,000. Charter Spectrum lost 70,000 television subscribers. Altice, Mediacom and Frontier lost 97,700 television subscribers between them.

The ten leading operators in the U.S. serve 74.65 million TV customers, a penetration rate of 62 percent.