US pay-TV providers lost 1.53 million customers in the second quarter, more than double the losses in the year-earlier period and a fourth consecutive quarter of record declines. The figures from Leichtman Research Group show that satellite TV providers remain the biggest losers on the market.
In total, the market counted 86.6 million subscribers at the end of June. The top seven cable companies had 46.5 million video subscribers, satellite TV services 27.5 million subscribers, the top telephone companies 8.8 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting OTT pay-TV services 3.8 million subscribers.
Satellite TV services lost about 855,000 subscribers, led by AT&T's DirecTV. The top cable companies lost about 455,000 video subscribers in Q2, the biggest losses in any quarter in the past five years. Telecom operators shed 100,000 TV customers in the period, more than double the year-earlier figure, and OTT services Sling TV and DiecTV Now shed 120,000 subscribers in Q2, reversing gains in 2018.
The latest quarterly results bring the sector to a net loss of over 5 million subscribers in the past 12 months.
