Pay TV subscribers in the U.S. rose by 303,000 in Q3 2025, marking the first quarterly increase for linear TV packages—including traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs)—since 2017, according to MoffettNathanson's latest "Cord Cutting Monitor" report.
This modest gain ends eight years of continuous declines and follows heavy losses earlier in the year, including 2.455 million in Q1 2025 and 1.054 million in Q2 2025. The last prior increase occurred in Q4 2017 with 318,000 added subscribers.
Analysts attribute the Q3 uptick largely to seasonal factors tied to the start of the football season, which traditionally boosts subscriptions. Growth was driven entirely by vMVPDs such as YouTube TV, while traditional operators like Comcast and Charter Communications continued to lose customers.
Despite the overall positive quarter, MoffettNathanson highlighted ongoing moderation in declines for traditional distributors, improving for the fifth straight quarter—with Charter showing the most significant slowdown—and noted that vMVPD growth persists but at a slower 4.6% annual rate, unchanged from recent quarters and the lowest since the category's inception.