Pay-TV Subs Exodus Continues; AT&T Counts for Nearly Half of Q1 Losses, Says LRG

at 87.8 million, breaking out to 46.7 million for cable, 28.3 million satellite, 8.9 million for phone and 3.9 million for the top publicly reporting internet-delivered vMVPD pay services. Satellite TV services more than doubled subscriber losses to 810,000, with direct broadcast satellite net losses reaching a new high and marking the fourth consecutive quarter of record losses. The top six cable companies shed 50,000 more subscribers vs. last year’s drop, reaching 335,000; top phone providers lost 105,000 video subscribers vs. 50,000 a year ago; and vMVPD services Sling TV and DirecTV Now swung to a drop of 75,000 subscribers vs. 405,000 net adds. Sling TV posted a net gain of 7,000 subscribers, while DirecTV Now had 83,000 net losses, Leichtman said. AT&T saw a net loss of about 625,000 subscribers -- 47 percent of the industry’s Q1 net losses across DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and DirecTV Now -- compared with a net gain of about 125,000 subscribers. Charter led cable losses with 145,000 net, followed by Comcast (120,000) and Cox (35,000). Q1 marked the third consecutive quarter of record pay-TV losses, coinciding with decisions by AT&T and other providers “to increasingly focus on long-term profitability when acquiring and retaining subscribers,” said Principal Bruce Leichtman. Also Tuesday, Kagan reported the shift from traditional multichannel video services, “on full display” for the past decade, is expected to increase moderately the next 12 months. The loss of content exclusivity is expected to shift the consumer base toward OTT video and fuel the growing ranks of online-only video households, Kagan said. While price hikes affected vMVPD subscriber growth, combined households relying on traditional and virtual multichannel services for video entertainment are still expected to account for 64 percent of occupied homes through 2023.