Six of the top 10 pay TV services in the United States shed subscribers in Q3 2016 and were collectively down by 73,000 over the quarter and 357,700 year over year, according to informitv’s latest “Multiscreen Index.” AT&T U-verse had the largest loss of subscribers, down by 326,000, although the AT&T’s DirecTV gained 323,000, the report notes. AT&T has been increasingly emphasizing satellite sales, so the decline in U-verse subs was not really a surprise to many analysts. (More on AT&T’s third quarter is available here.)
The informitv report covers 100 leading pay TV providers around the globe, and shows a total quarterly increase worldwide of 3.45 million subscribers, up by 0.8 percent, compared to 3.74 million or 0.95 percent a year previously. Of the 100 providers covered in the index, 57 reported net TV subscriber gains in the third quarter, compared to 59 in the same period a year previously.
The research indicates that in Europe, Tricolor had the largest increase, up by 130,000, which brought its total to 12 million. “Sky gained 106,000 customers across Europe, including 49,000 in Germany and Austria,” informitv says. “The Asia Pacific region gained 2.54 million subscribers, with six operators in India claiming combined gains of 2.19 million, led by Hathway adding 800,000.”
Sue Farrell, informitv analyst, notes that the largest increase worldwide was in the Asia Pacific region, which added 14.37 million television subscribers in 12 months.
