U.S. Pay-TV Providers Shed 1.2 Million Subs in Q2

According to Leichtman Research Group, the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. lost about 1.23 million net video subscribers in the second quarter of 2021.

The top pay-TV providers—representing about 95 percent of the market—now account for about 77.6 million subscribers, with the top seven cable companies having 42.6 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 28.2 million subscribers and the top publicly reporting vMVPD pay-TV services having about 6.8 million subscribers.

Comcast ended the period with nearly 19 million subs, a net loss of 399,000. Charter was at 16 million, with a Q2 loss of 50,000 subs. Cox had about 3.5 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, seeing net losses of 60,000. Altice wrapped the period with 2.9 million, shedding 48,300.

In other traditional services, AT&T Premium TV had 15.4 million at the end of Q2, with a loss of 473,000 in the quarter. DISH TV had 8.5 million, with a loss of 132,000. Verizon FiOS had 3.8 million and a loss of 63,000.

Looking at vMVPDs, Hulu + Live TV ended the second quarter with 3.7 million subs, having lost 100,000. Sling TV was at 2.4 million, with a net gain of 65,000. fuboTV had 682,000 subscribers at the end of Q2, with around 92,000 additions.

“Pay-TV net losses of 1,230,000 in Q2 2021 were about 275,000 fewer than in Q2 2020 on a pro forma basis,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 4,520,000 subscribers, compared to a loss of about 5,460,000 over the prior year.”