US: 1.7m net added multi-channel video in 1 year
June 17, 2010
Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the largest cable, satellite, and Telco TV providers in the US acquired over 1.7 million net additional multi-channel video subscribers over the past year.
While the top ten cable companies cumulatively lost about 1.4 million cable TV subscribers in the year-long period through the end of the first quarter of 2010, these losses were more than offset by a gain of 1.33 million satellite TV subscribers (from DirecTV and Dish Network), and 1.78 million subscribers to Telco TV services (from Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse). In the first quarter of 2010 alone, the multi-channel video industry as a whole added about 580,000 subscribers.
“The number of US households subscribing to some form of multi-channel video service is at an all-time high,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG. “Multi-channel video industry gains will likely be slower in the coming year than they were in the past year, due to the saturated market, coupled with tepid new housing growth, and a slowdown in the rollout of Telco TV services. Consumers’ decisions to disconnect from multi-channel video services to only watch video from other sources are unlikely to have a substantial impact on the market in the near-term.”