The number of customer losses for US pay-TV providers topped 1 million for the first time in a quarter, according to the latest study from Kagan. Losses amounted to just under 1.2 million in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date losses to 2.9 million. The combined cable, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and telecom multichannel subscriptions fell to 94.9 million at the end of Q3, including 91.7 million residential customers, for a 74.8 percent residential multichannel penetration.
Cable operators lost 801,000 total video customers in Q3. The telco platform logged its ninth consecutive quarter of video customer erosion, with losses coming in at about 184,000. AT&T's emphasis on DirecTV Now is weighing heavily on the company's legacy multichannel products, including U-verse, which accounted for 73.5 percent of the sector decline during the period.
Traditional satellite services were down a total of 618,000 subscribers, accounting for 53 percent of the sector’s losses.
Adding the top two virtual service providers affiliated with legacy multichannel distributors, namely Dish Network's Sling TV and AT&T's DirecTV Now, reduces the sector's calculated quarterly losses to 635,000.
