Comcast lost 487,000 video customers in the United States in the first quarter of 2024. That follows net losses of over two million in the previous year. Charter Communications lost 405,000 in the quarter and over a million in the previous year. Between them they still have 26.73 million video customers in the United States, but that is 6.87 million fewer than they had just two years previously.
Comcast ended the first quarter of 2024 with 13.62 million video customers in the United States. Just over three years ago it had over 20 million.
Comcast also dropped 65,000 internet subscribers over the quarter, having lost 66,000 the previous year. However, wireless lines rose by 289,000 to 6.88 million.
The number of paid Peacock subscribers increased by 55% over the year to 34 million, with net additions of 3 million in the first quarter. Peacock revenue rose correspondingly by 54% to $1.1 billion for the quarter. That needs to be seen in the context of $6.88 billion in revenue from the traditional video platform and total connectivity and platform revenue of $20.28 billion for the quarter.
The Sky operation in the United Kingdom is included in that figure as footnote. It is no longer possible to determine from reported results how many customers Sky has in the United Kingdom or Europe. There was virtually no mention of Sky when speaking with analysts, other than to say that was where the name NOW had come from for its new pre-paid offer in the United States.
Charter Communications, the number two cable company in the United States, ended the quarter with 13.11 million residential video customers. That was a quarterly loss of 393,000 customers in a quarter, following a loss of just under a million in the previous year.
Operating under the Spectrum brand, Charter now has only marginally fewer video customers than Comcast.
It is now a question of which of the companies is losing more video customers that will determine the one that ends up with the most out of the two of them. Comcast is losing customers at a faster rate, so Charter could end up being the leading video service provider in the United States.