Leichtman Research Group, Inc. reported that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. including Comcast, Spectrum, DIRECTV, and others, lost about 1.45 million net video subscribers in Q1 2022.
That number includes both cable and satellite providers, as shown in the chart below.
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 825,000 video subscribers in 1Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 780,000 subscribers in 1Q 2021
- Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 625,000 subscribers in 1Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 865,000 subscribers in 1Q 2021
| Pay-TV Providers | Subscribers at end of 1Q 2022 | Net Adds in 1Q 2022 |
| Cable Companies | ||
| Comcast | 17,664,000 | -512,000 |
| Charter | 15,721,000 | -112,000 |
| Cox* | 3,310,000 | -80,000 |
| Altice** | 2,658,700 | -73,600 |
| Mediacom* | 555,000 | -17,000 |
| Breezeline** | 339,021 | -7,708 |
| Cable One** | 238,000 | -23,000 |
| Total Top Cable | 40,485,721 | -825,308 |
| Other Traditional Services | ||
| DIRECTV^ | 14,300,000 | -300,000 |
| DISH TV (DBS) | 7,993,000 | -228,000 |
| Verizon Fios (Telco) | 3,566,000 | -78,000 |
| Frontier (Telco)* | 363,000 | -17,000 |
| Total Top Other Traditional | 26,222,000 | -623,000 |
** LRG estimate of pro forma net adds
^ LRG estimate, includes DIRECTV, U-verse, and DIRECTV Stream
“Pay-TV net losses of about 1.95 million in 1Q 2022 were similar to the net losses in the first quarters of 2021 and 2020,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of 4,735,000 subscribers, similar to a loss of about 4,820,000 over the prior year.”