U.S. Pay TV Shed 300k Subs in 2Q

According to the Leichtman Research Group, the 13 largest pay TV providers in the United States - representing about 95% of the market - lost about 300,000 net video subscribers in the second quarter of 2014, compared to a loss of about 350,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2013.

The top pay TV providers account for nearly 95.5 million subscribers, with the top nine cable companies having 49.9 million video subscribers, satellite TV companies having 34.3 million, and the top telcos having about 11.3 million.

Other findings include:

• The top nine cable companies lost about 510,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2014, the fewest losses in any second quarter since 2Q 2009. Cable ONE lost 6.5% of all cable subscribers in 2Q 2014, the highest percentage of losses in one quarter by any top provider in the past decade.
• Satellite TV providers lost 78,000 subscribers in 2Q 2014, compared to a loss of 162,000 in 2Q 2013.
• The top telcos added 290,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2014, compared to 373,000 net additions in 2Q 2013.