A recent report from the Evercore ISI investment firm showed cable companies lost over 35,000 subscriber every month in the first quarter of 2015. The only bright spot for paid TV is Telco TV providers, like CenturyLink and Verizon, which added customers; however, even accounting for that, the industry as a whole lost over 13,000 subscribers every month in the first quarter 2015. Traditionally, the first quarter is one of the best for cable companies, and seeing such a hard hit is shocking.
Dish Network alone lost 134,000 customers in the first quarter of 2015, while its main competitor, DirecTV, added over 60,000 new customers.
No matter how you look at this, “that cord cutting thing” cable companies told us was not real just a year ago clearly is taking its toll on said companies. While the future of cable TV may look dark, cable Internet continues to grow. Last month, the New York Post reported Comcast now has more Internet subscribers than cable TV subscribers.
A lot of the pain has to be accredited to Sling TV, and the price increases several cable companies implemented early this year. Many unhappy cable subscribers see Sling TV as a stepping stone to leaving cable and joining the cord-cutting family.
While cord cutting is a relatively new industry, it already shows signs of being a major disruptor similar to how mp3s forever changed the music industry. Only time will tell but, clearly, television will never be the same again.