While the U.S. market experienced the first-ever net loss of basic video subscribers, the number of broadband subscribers continued to grow, with a net addition of 2.6 million new customers.
Cable companies are still signing up the vast majority of new subscribers, according to company results aggregated by Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
The video market is far closer to the saturation point than the broadband market. The 2013 financial results from service providers presented the evidence that cord cutting is real, but the numbers, while measurable, remain so small as to be negligible – there was a net loss of only 105,000 video subscribers in the U.S. market.
The evidence suggests that most people get over-the-top (OTT) video to complement video services from traditional, facilities-based video providers, and that OTT viewing is supplemental. The assumption has been, and continues to be, that the OTT phenomenon is helping to fuel growth.
Analysts continue to only speculate about whether broadband subscriber growth is being fueled by viewers who are watching subscribing only to broadband-based, OTT services, and who have never had a subscription with a traditional, facilities-based service provider.
The seventeen largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S., representing about 93 percent of the market, acquired over 2.6 million net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in 2013. Annual net broadband additions in 2013 were 95 percent of the total in 2012.
These top broadband providers now account for 84.3 million subscribers, with cable companies having 49.3 million broadband subscribers, and telephone companies having 35.0 million subscribers.
Other findings include:
- The top cable companies netted 82 percent of the broadband additions in 2013, compared to 88 percent of the broadband additions in 2012
- The top cable companies added nearly 2.2 million broadband subscribers in 2013 – 89 percent of the total net additions for the top cable companies in 2012
- Comcast added about 1.3 million broadband subscribers in 2013 – accounting for 49 percent of the total net additions for the top providers in the year
- The top telephone providers added 480,000 broadband subscribers in 2013 – 146 percent of the total net additions for the top telephone companies in 2012
- AT&T and Verizon added 3.3 million fiber subscribers (via U-verse and FiOS) in 2013, while having a net loss of 3.05 million DSL subscribers. U-verse and FiOS broadband subscribers now account for 47 percent of Telco broadband subscribers – up from 29 percentat the end of 2011.
“At the end of 2013, the top broadband providers in the US cumulatively had over 84.3 million subscribers, adding 2.6 million subscribers in the past year,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG. “With top Telco providers focused on upgrading customers from DSL to fiber broadband services, cable providers accounted for over 80 percent of the net broadband adds in 2013.”
Broadband Internet |
Subscribers at end of 2013 |
Net Adds in 2013 |
Cable Companies |
|
|
Comcast |
20,662,000 |
1,296,000 |
Time Warner |
11,606,000 |
211,000 |
Charter |
4,640,000 |
371,000 |
Cablevision |
2,780,000 |
17,000 |
Suddenlink |
1,059,500 |
57,400 |
Mediacom |
965,000 |
50,000 |
WOW (WideOpenWest)* |
740,000 |
31,000 |
Cable ONE |
472,631 |
13,396 |
Other major private cable companies** |
6,385,000 |
115,000 |
Total Top Cable |
49,310,131 |
2,161,796 |
Telephone Companies |
||
AT&T |
16,425,000 |
35,000 |
Verizon |
9,015,000 |
220,000 |
CenturyLink |
5,991,000 |
140,000 |
Frontier^ |
1,836,000 |
112,000 |
Windstream |
1,170,900 |
(43,600) |
FairPoint |
329,766 |
4,789 |
Cincinnati Bell |
268,400 |
9,000 |
Total Top Telephone Companies |
35,036,066 |
477,189 |
Total Broadband |
84,346,197 |
2,638,985 |
Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* WOW was added as one of the top cable broadband providers this year, replacing RCN
** Includes LRG estimates for Cox, and Bright House Networks
^ LRG estimate, does not include wireless subscribers
Company subscriber counts may not represent solely residential households
Totals reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions
Top cable and telephone companies represent approximately 93% of all subscribers