Q1 2017 analysis of pay TV subscriber losses continues to flow in, and no matter how the data is sliced and diced and how many operators are included, it’s far from a sunny picture. That’s especially true since the first quarter is traditionally a strong one for the sector. Leichtman Research Group released research on Thursday saying that the largest pay TV providers in the United States, representing about 95 percent of the market, lost about 410,000 net video subscribers the first quarter, which compares to a gain of about 10,000 subscribers in the same period a year ago.
Virtual MVPD adds helped the numbers, but if you don’t include those, the largest traditional pay TV services shed about 760,000 subscribers in Q1 2017 compared to a loss of about 120,000 in Q1 2016, LRG reports.
“The pay TV market lost about 410,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2017. This marked the first time that the industry has ever had net subscriber losses in the first quarter of a year,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst at LRG, observes. “The decline in subscribers should not be interpreted as solely driven by a sudden increase in consumers disconnecting services. The net losses are also a function of a decrease in new connects, partially due to some providers less aggressively pursuing lower value customers than in the past.”
LRG says the top pay TV providers account for 93.3 million subscribers with the top six cable companies having more than 48.6 million video subscribers, satellite TV services about 33.2 million subs, the telcos about 9.8 million subscribers, and the top internet-delivered pay TV services marking about 1.7 million subs.
The top six cable companies lost about 115,000 video subscribers in the first quarter of this year compared to a gain of about 50,000 subscribers in Q1 2016, the LRG data says. Satellite TV services dropped about 320,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2017 compared to a gain of about 175,000 subscribers in Q1 2016. Specifically, DirecTV had no net adds in Q1 2017 compared to a gain of 328,000 in the same period the year before. LRG also notes that Sling TV and DirecTV Now added about 350,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year, which compares to about 130,000 net adds in Q1 2016.
The research firm also reports the top telephone providers lost about 325,000 video subscribers this Q1. That sector shed 350,000 subscribers in Q1 2016, the LRG research shows.
Kagan estimates of the overall Q1 2017 pay TV losses were also released this week, and are covered in the story here.
