Recession to blame for US pay-TV fall
September 27, 2010
For the first time in recent years the number of pay-TV subscriber households in the US has decreased, according to In-Stat. US pay-TV households, which consist of cable TV, IPTV, and satellite TV subscribers, saw a reduction of some 167,000 subscribers during 2Q of 2010.
“There are several reasons behind the quarterly subscriber loss,” says Mike Paxton, Principal Analyst. “While growing availability of over-the-top Internet video is spurring talk of mass ‘cord-cutting,’ this decline is not about cancelling pay TV in favour of Internet video. The main driver of these subscriber declines is the struggling US economy and high unemployment.”