The informitv Multiscreen Index shows that the top 10 pay-television services in the United States collectively gained 54,800 digital television subscribers in the first quarter of 2015. With all the results from the top 10 services that report numbers now in, the combined subscriber counts show an improvement on the loss of 232,100 over the previous three quarters. 6 of the top 10 services reported a net increase in subscribers in the first three months of 2015.
Verizon made the greatest gains, adding 90,000 FiOS video customers, with AT&T adding 49,000 U verse video subscribers.
DIRECTV added 60,000 subscribers, while DISH Network lost 134,000.
Comcast lost 8,000 television customers, removing a small gain from the previous quarter.
Time Warner Cable added 30,000 television subscribers, ending a long run of consecutive quarterly customer losses.
Charter and Cablevision lost 7,000 and 28,000 television customers respectively but Mediacom and Suddenlink reported marginal subscriber gains.
| Service | Change quarter |
Subscribers m |
|---|---|---|
| 54,800 | 87.72 | |
| Comcast | -8,000 | 22.38 |
| DIRECTV | 60,000 | 20.41 |
| DISH Network | -134,000 | 13.84 |
| Time Warner Cable | 30,000 | 10.82 |
| AT&T U-verse | 49,000 | 5.97 |
| Verizon FiOS | 90,000 | 5.74 |
| Charter | -7,000 | 4.15 |
| Cablevision | -28,000 | 2.65 |
| Mediacom | 1,000 | 0.89 |
| Suddenlink | 1,800 | 0.87 |
Between them, the top 10 services account for 87.67 million homes in the United States. That is an increase of 1.32 million over three years.
“Some operators have sustained heavy subscriber losses over the last year but there are signs that the decline may be slowing,” says Dr William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “The telcos are continuing to gain customers and the total number of subscribers for these ten services has risen as a result.”
The Multiscreen Index tracks trends in television services and provides an accessible compilation of top 10 tables and charts showing annual and quarterly changes in subscriber numbers. The index of 100 leading pay-television services worldwide provides an industry benchmark against which television customer gains or losses can be measured, by region and mode of delivery, as well as ranking those with the largest subscriber gains or losses.