Q3 Cable Sub Losses Jumped as vMVPD Growth Slows: LRG

Major pay-TV providers lost about 650,000 net video subscribers in 3Q vs. a 90,000 loss in the year-ago quarter, said Leichtman Research Group Thursday. The top pay-TV providers account for about 77 million subscribers, 41.9 million for the top seven cable companies, 7.5 million for the top publicly reporting virtual MVPDs. Top cable providers had a net loss of about 700,000 video subs, vs. a loss of 380,000 in 3Q 2020; Comcast shed 407,000, bringing its base to 18.5 million. Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 635,000 vs. a loss of 780,000. All traditional pay-TV companies lost customers, but vMVPDs Hulu+Live TV (300,000), Sling TV (117,000) and fuboTV (262,884) gained, LRG said, though growth slowed to 680,000 from 1.1 million. Annual net losses were similar to a year ago, said LRG President Bruce Leichtman, saying top pay-TV providers shed about 5.1 million subs over the past year vs. losing some 4.8 million.