In 2015 pay-TV companies lost a total of 480,855 subscribers in just three months according to the Leichtman Research Group. Verizon FiOS was the only pay-TV company to gain subscribers of the top nine pay-TV providers at just 26,000. DirecTV was the biggest loser dropping 133,000 subscribers followed by Dish (81,000) and Comcast (69,000). This was the weakest quarter ever for pay-tv companies when looking at net new customers for pay-tv.
If pay-TV companies continue to lose subscribers at this rate there should be about a million more cancellations by the end of 2015. Satellite TV providers lost 214,000 in the second quarter of 2015 compared to just 78,000 in the second quarter of 2014. Cable Companies lost 260,855 TV customers in 2nd Quarter 2015. This growth in cord cutting could quickly compound and become an unstoppable mass in 2016.
Other key findings for the quarter include:
- The top telephone providers added 4,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2015 — compared to 284,000 net additions in 2Q 2014
- Telco net adds in 2Q 2015 were the fewest in any quarter since the services started in 2006
The top pay-TV providers now account for only 94.9 million subscribers — with the top nine cable companies having nearly 49.0 million video subscribers, satellite TV companies having 34.2 million subscribers, and the top telephone companies having about 11.7 million subscribers.
With losses this huge it is no wonder so many companies are moving quickly to offer products and services to cord cutters.