The October issue of the informitv Multiscreen Index of 100 leading pay television service providers worldwide shows an increase of 4 million subscribers, up by 0.95% over the second quarter of 2016. The Americas region had its first quarterly subscriber loss, which was offset by gains in Asia Pacific, boosted by continuing growth in India.
25 of the 100 services in the Multiscreen Index reported net television subscriber losses in the second quarter, while 66 reported year on year gains.
The top 10 services in the United States collectively lost 663,000 television subscribers in the quarter and were down by 437,100 year on year.
Across the Americas there was a net decline of 0.29 million subscribers, which is the first regional loss in the Multiscreen Index.
| Service | Change quarter |
Subscribers m |
|---|---|---|
| -1,503,765 | 119.08 | |
| Comcast | -4,000 | 22.40 |
| DIRECTV | 342,000 | 20.45 |
| Charter Spectrum | -152,000 | 16.93 |
| Claro Brasil | – | 15.90 |
| DISH Network | -281,000 | 13.59 |
| Sky Mexico | 121,235 | 7.80 |
| PanAmericana | 81,000 | 7.18 |
| Sky Brasil | 6,000 | 5.35 |
| AT&T U-verse | -391,000 | 4.84 |
| VerizonFios | -1,226,000 | 4.64 |
The apparent loss among the top 10 services is exaggerated by the transfer of almost 1.20 million Verizon customers to Frontier Communications. Verizon reported an organic loss of 41,000 video subscribers.
AT&T converted a number of U-verse subscribers to the service of its DIRECTV subsidiary.
Charter Communications completed the merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks and the combined services are being rebranded Charter Spectrum.
Services in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region gained 0.83 million subscribers, with the top 10 gaining just 125,000 between them.
The Asia Pacific region gained 3.46 million subscribers, with the top 10 services adding 2.76 million, led by six operators in India claiming collective gains of over two million.
“The Multiscreen Index shows that over 12 months the top 10 services in the Asia Pacific region claimed gains of 13.76 million television subscribers, which is an 18% increase,” said informitv analyst Dr Sue Farrell.
“More services are gaining rather than losing subscribers,” added Dr William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “Even in the United States, the year on year loss across the top 10 services is less than half a per cent of their combined subscriber base.”
The informitv Multiscreen Index tracks 100 leading pay-TV services worldwide and is published quarterly. It 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. The latest issue is available from the Multiscreen Index web site.