Cable TV Loses About 1 Million Subscribers, According to a Report
So much for the deceleration of cord cutting.
Cable and satellite TV providers lost 1.1 million subscribers between July and September, their largest quarterly loss ever, according to a MoffettNathanson, a media research company.
By USA Today, Dish alone had a net loss of 341[ads1],000, (367,000 in total losses were slightly offset by 26,000 Sling TV additions) a dramatic increase from the 16,000 it lost during the same quarter in 2017. AT & T's DirectTV was not too far behind with a net loss of 297,000. All satellite providers combined dropped 726,000 subscribers.
Cable TV providers lost about 293,000 subscribers during the quarter. Comcast was the biggest loser on the cable side, bleeding 106,000 subscribers, but the telecom giant offset this with 363,000 new broadband subscribers. Cable providers' losses, however, are actually looking encouraging when they lose 322,000 subscribers during Q3 2017.
BTIG Media and Technology Analyst Rich Greenfield tweeted that Q3 2018 was "the third worst quarter in industry history and worst since Q2 2016. "
