MVPD subscriptions dropped 7.1% last year as vMVPDs grew 1.8 million, said Kagan Wednesday. All subs declined by 4.5 million in 2019, including 1.6 million subscribers in Q4, it said, reflecting an ongoing consumer viewing transition fed by expanded streaming video options and service providers’ de-emphasis of big subscription packages. Satellite accounted for the bulk of the traditional decline in Q4, with AT&T's DirecTV and Dish Network combined net losses of an estimated 863,000. Some 63.4% of occupied U.S. households subscribe to traditional multichannel video; 71% to virtual and traditional.

Top pay-TV providers lost 4.9 million net video subscribers in 2019 vs. 1.6 million in the prior year, more net losses than in any previous year, reported Leichtman Research Group Tuesday. Satellite companies continued to lead the consumer exodus, shedding 3.7 million vs. 2.4 million the previous year; DirecTV lost 3.2 million, said the research firm. Top cable providers cumulatively lost 3.3% of video subscribers vs. 1.9% the prior year. Telcos’ losses widened to 7.4% of video subscribers vs. a loss of 2.6%. Comcast lost 732,000 TV subscribers, followed by Charter Communications at 462,000. AT&T accounted for 84% of 2019 pay-TV net losses vs. 48% the prior year. Subscription growth slowed among vMVPDs, too: Hulu Plus Live TV, Sling TV and AT&T TV Now added about 1 million subscribers in 2019 vs. 1.9 million. The increase in pay-TV net losses was due to consumers’ expanding choices for video options and decisions by AT&T and others to focus on “long-term profitability in acquiring and retaining subscribers,” said principal Bruce Leichtman.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets jumped sharply in February from January, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through Feb. 13 and found 13.6% plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, said the board. That was up from 11.4% in January, 11.3% in December and 12.4% in February 2019, it said. Consumer confidence rose slightly in February, following an increase in January, said the board: “Consumers’ short-term expectations improved, and when coupled with solid employment growth, should be enough to continue to support spending and economic growth in the near term.”

Artificial intelligence, high resolution and voice control are among the features that will drive a 21% compound annual growth rate in TV sales through 2024 when global shipments are forecast to reach 293.3 million, reported Technavio Wednesday. Growth rate for 2020 is forecast as 18.9% higher than 2018, it said. Launches of smart TVs with advanced capabilities, such as Samsung’s QLED 8K TV with Bixby voice assistance and LG’s high-end OLED models with AI and deep learning, will contribute to significant growth for the category, said the researcher. Some 46% of growth is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region. The rising popularity of over-the-top video content will further boost market growth during the forecast period, it said.

January sales through electronics and appliance stores declined 2.9 percent year over year and were down 0.5 percent sequentially from December, reported the National Retail Federation Friday. Retail sales increased 2.7 percent overall from January 2019 and were up 0.2 percent from December, said NRF. Online and other non-store sales were up 7 percent year over year and increased 0.3 percent from December, it said. “January’s retail sales results reflect a confident consumer supported by solid wage growth and job gains,” it said. “While the business sector continues to weigh significant uncertainties, consumers are providing staying power for U.S. economic growth.”

Seven percent of U.S. broadband households owned a plug-in electric vehicle at the end of last year, up from 4 percent two years earlier, Parks Associates said Tuesday. Dropping prices, longer range and wider availability of charging stations are driving interest in EVs, said analyst Chris O’Dell. Building out the charging infrastructure will help convince more people that EV driving is viable, said Jeff Dion, project line manager at charging network FLO.

Though worldwide shipments of front projectors in the pro AV industry fell more than 16 percent in 2019, market value dropped 6 percent to $8.8 billion on higher average selling prices, said Futuresource Wednesday. The trend is expected to continue long term due to a “significant shift in product mix,” said Victoria Tselykh. Sales of installation (with lumens ratings above 6000) grew 7 percent in shipments, 4 percent in volume last year, with demand for high-brightness tech driven by architectural mapping and immersive experiences. Increased availability of less expensive solid-state solutions is also driving growth, Tselykh said. Demand for mainstream solutions will continue to fall, but adoption of premium, high-bright projectors will continue to rise, said the analyst, predicting the projector market in 2025 will look “distinctively dissimilar" to 2019. She predicted that in six years, the market will have “sophisticated smart solutions” with high-resolution and lumens and integrated functionality such as edge-blending and mapping.

The U.S. tech industry, following a 3 percent sales uptick in 2019, is poised for 5 percent growth this year, tapering to 4 percent in 2021 and 3 percent to 2022, NPD reported. This year’s top growth categories are expected to be wireless headphones (51 percent year on year), Chromebooks (22 percent), 65-inch-and-larger TVs (19 percent) and smart home devices (16 percent), it said Monday. Competitive pricing on current technology -- some in the midst of upgrade cycles -- will continue to drive CE sales, said analyst Stephen Baker. Consumer tech sales grew nearly 5 percent during the U.S. holiday season amid a generally flat period for key general merchandise categories, said the researcher. NPD’s numbers don’t include mobile phones. Despite preseason concerns over the shorter Thanksgiving-Christmas period in 2019, consumers bought “early and often,” with tech sales up 9 percent year on year during Thanksgiving week, 14 percent on Cyber Monday and 21 percent during Christmas week, it said. TVs and PCs were the top revenue categories within consumer tech in November and December; headphones, up 52 percent year over year, surpassed tablets for the number three position for the first time, NPD said. The December quarter was a positive indicator heading into 2020, said Baker: “Consumers are choosing to purchase at a time when a lot of innovation is looming -- 5G, foldable screens, OLED, AI -- not necessarily waiting for those technologies, nor expecting today’s product to be discounted.”

Demand for premium digital cameras is rising, taking some pressure off dropping value at the entry level, Futuresource reported. Global digital camera shipments likely declined 20 percent for 2019 due to competition from smartphone cameras, said analyst Cameron Meldrum. Improving smartphone imaging capabilities continue to cannibalize the fixed lens market, “as well as eating into the lower-end DSLR segment,” said Meldrum. Tougher competition from mirrorless cameras has also been pressuring DSLRs, he said. Digital cameras' average selling price for 2019 is expected to be 9 percent higher year on year at $489 on stronger demand for premium models. The mirrorless segment is expected to total $3.6 billion, an 8 percent rise over 2018. Canon remains the market leader overall, followed by Sony and Nikon.

At year's end, 155,029 CableCARDs were in service, with 20,873 in inventory, NCTA said Wednesday in FCC docket 97-80. It said the average monthly CableCARD lease was $2, and average installation cost $50. The deployments were down slightly from the year-ago quarter.