Leichtman: Pay-TV Operators Up Q1 Sub Loss to 1.95 Million
May 18, 2022
New data from the Leichtman Research Group found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. — representing about 93% of the market — lost more than 1.95 million net video subscribers in the first quarter, ended March 31. That compared with a net loss of 1.91 million subs in the previous-year period.
The top pay-TV operators now account for about 74.1 million subs — with the top seven cable companies having about 40.5 million video subs, other traditional pay-TV services having 26.2 million subs, and the top publicly reporting online pay-TV services having about 7.4 million subs.
Leichtman found that the top cable providers had a net loss of about 825,000 video subs in the quarter, compared to a loss of about 780,000 subs in the same period in 2021. Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 625,000 subs, down from a loss of about 865,000 subs in 1Q 2021.
Top publicly reporting online TV platforms, such as Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and Fubo TV, had a net loss of about 505,000 subs, compared to a loss of about 265,000 subs in 1Q 2021.
“Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of 4.735 million subs, similar to a loss of about 4.82 million over the prior year,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said in a statement.
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| Pay-TV Providers | Subscribers at end of 1Q 2022 | Net Adds in 1Q 2022 |
| Cable Companies | ||
| Comcast | 17.664 million | (512,000) |
| Charter | 15.721 million | (112,000) |
| Cox | 3.310 million | (80,000) |
| Altice | 2.658 million | (73,600) |
| Mediacom | 555,000 | (17,000) |
| Breezeline | 339,021 | (7,708) |
| Cable One | 238,000 | (23,000) |
| Total Top Cable | 40.485 million | (825,308) |
| Other Traditional Services | ||
| DirecTV | 14.300 million | (300,000) |
| DISH TV (DBS) | 7.993 million | (228,000) |
| Verizon Fios (Telco) | 3.566 million | (78,000) |
| Frontier (Telco) | 363,000 | (17,000) |
| Total Top Other Traditional | 26.222 million | (623,000) |
| Internet-Delivered (vMVPD) | ||
| Hulu + Live TV | 4.100 million | (200,000) |
| Sling TV | 2.252 million | (234,000) |
| fuboTV | 1.056 million | (73,562) |
| Total Top Online TV | 7.408 million | (507,562) |
| Total Top Providers | 74.115 million | 1.955 million |