Now that 2018 has come to an end we are starting to get a look at the damage cord cutting did to the pay-TV industry. One of the first companies to report their 2018 numbers was Verizon’s Fios TV service. According to a report released today, Fios TV lost 168,000 subscribers in 2018.
“We’ll, of course over time, create optionality for our customers to choose between different solutions for their TV viewing,” Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said. “Ultimately, we will see our customers have all the choices when it comes to how they want to consume video. We see the trends in the market.”
Fios had planned on launching a live TV streaming services to help offset these losses but changed their mind in 2018. Now Verizon offers 3 months of YouTube TV for free when you signup for 5G home internet. Verizon Fios is rolling out what they call an advanced IPTV platform that has been deployed to a limited number of Fios subscribers in upstate New York and New York City; Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Pa.; Massachusetts markets; Richmond, Va., and several other markets. Verizon seems to be hoping that this new TV system will help slow down subscriber losses in 2019.
Tomorrow we will get a look at AT&T’s subscriber losses. Over the next few weeks, all the major TV companies will be releasing their subscriber numbers. It will be interesting to see how large the subscriber drop in 2018 was for traditional pay TV companies.
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