U.S. Multichannel Subs Rose Slightly in 2012

MONTEREY: The base of U.S. multichannel subscribers was up for Q4 and the full year of 2012, reversing the negative quarterly trends of Q2 and Q3, according to an SNL Kagan study.

Multichannel service providers in the U.S. collectively saw a gain of 51,000 new customers in Q4. The gains for the full year are hinged on the Q4 figures, since the second and third quarters were weak. Across cable, satellite and telcos, 46,000 video customers were added year-on-year in 2012, finishing with more than 100.4 million subs. The overall industry has never posted a full-year decline in video subscribers, but growth has proven difficult above the 100-million-household mark. For the full year, U.S. cable subscribers were down to 56.4 million, DBS subs grew to 34.1 million and telco video subs increased to 9.9 million.