Top Pay TV Cable Providers Still Bleeding Customers

Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 96% of the market – lost about 465,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 385,000 in 3Q 2022.

The top pay-TV providers now account for about 71.5 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 34.9 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having 21.9 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having 14.7 million subscribers.

Key findings for the quarter include:

• Top cable providers had a net loss of about 1,015,000 video subscribers in 3Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 985,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022
• Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 780,000 subscribers in 3Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 700,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022
• Top vMVPDs added about 1,325,000 subscribers in 3Q 2023 – compared to a gain of about 1,300,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022

“Similar to recent years, pay-TV net losses in the third quarter were more modest than in the first two quarters of the year due to the strength of sports on Internet-delivered vMVPD services,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “While traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 1.8 million subscribers in 3Q 2023, vMVPDs had over 1.3 million net additions in the quarter.”