The top 10 television service providers in the US lost 835,000 subscribers between them in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Informitv Multiscreen Index.
DirecTV lost 251,000 television subscribers, falling to 20.6 million, though the platform’s online service gained 300,000. Meanwhile, AT&T U-verse dropped 134,000 subscribers, falling to 3.69 million.
Comcast lost 134,000 subscribers, a much larger drop than the 45,000 it lost in the fourth quarter of 2016—it now sits at 21.34 million.
Dish Network posted losses of 129,000, down to 13.20 million total subscribers. This figure includes Sling TV subscribers, and the removal of 145,000 subscribers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands following Hurricane Maria.
Elsewhere, Charter shed 104,000 subscribers, down to a total of 16.54 million. The remaining five providers included in the top 10 reported losses of 6,000 to 26,000 subscribers. Analyst Dr Sue Farrell said:
“These 10 television service providers have lost over 2.5 million subscribers over the previous 12 months. That is just under 3% of their customer base”.
Dr William Cooper, the editor of the Informitv Multiscreen Index, also commented:
“Online television services like Sling TV and DirecTV NOW are gaining customers but currently at a lower rate than traditional pay television is losing subscribers.
DirecTV NOW has achieved a total of 787,000 customers since it launched at the end of November 2016. However, over the same period DirecTV and AT&T U-verse lost just under a million customers”.
