The top 10 service providers in the United States that provide figures collectively lost 1,265,100 television subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020, as reported by the informitv Multiscreen Index. They lost 5.98 million television subscribers between them in 2020. That was only slightly less than their loss of 6.08 million the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, 9 of the top 10 services in the United States lost television subscribers, with Sling TV gaining 10,000. Charter Communications was the only service among them not to report a net loss of television customers in 2020.

Comcast lost 227,000 consumer video subscribers in the fourth quarter, reducing its total over the year by 1.30 million to 18.99 million, down from 20.96 million at the end of 2018.

AT&T lost 616,000 premium television customers in the last quarter and shed a total of 2.99 million over the year, leaving it with 16.51 million, compared to 22.90 million at the end of 2018. AT&T NOW TV lost 262,000 online customers over the year, ending with 0.66 million

DISH Network lost 140,000 satellite television customers in the quarter and 574,000 over the year, with 8.82 remaining, down from 9.90 million at the end of 2018. Sling TV lost 122,000 online customers over the year, down to 2.47 million.

Verizon Fios lost 72,000 in the quarter and 298,000 over the course of the year, ending with 3,85 million, down from 4.38 million at the end of 2018.

Altice USA lost 74,1000 in the quarter, while Frontier fell by 33,000 and Mediacom declined by 20,000. They lost over 460,000 television customers between them over the year.

Charter lost 66,000 in the last quarter, having gained in the two previous quarters, producing a net gain of 19,000 over the year and ending with 15.64 million television customers.

United States
Service Change
quarter
Subscribers
m
-1,265,100 71.03
Comcast -227,000 18.99
AT&T Premium TV -616,000 16.51
Charter Spectrum -66,000 15.64
DISH Network -140,000 8.82
Verizon FiOS -72,000 3.85
Altice USA -74,100 2.96
Sling TV 10,000 2.47
AT&T TV NOW -27,000 0.66
Mediacom -20,000 0.64
Frontier -33,000 0.49
Source: informitv Multiscreen Index. Television subscriber numbers at the end of December 2020 for the 10 leading pay-television services in the United States that report figures.

US Top 10 quarterly subscriber change 2020 Q4. Source: informitv Multiscreen Index.

US Top 10 subscriber total 2020 Q4. Source: informitv Multiscreen Index.

The online services from AT&T and DISH Network failed to compensate for the loss of satellite television customers. AT&T TV NOW and Sling TV lost 384,000 customers between them over the year. Meanwhile, although the Hulu + Live TV online service lost 100,000 subscribers in the last quarter of 2020, it gained 800,000 over the year to reach 4.00 million, which would place it above Verizon Fios in subscriber numbers.

β€œ2020 saw a further fall in the number of television subscribers in the United States,” observed Dr William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. β€œThe top 10 services in our index lost 7.8% of their customer base in 2020, compared to 7.3% the previous year. They now have just over 70 million television customers between them, which is just under 60% of television homes in the United States.”

Subscriber numbers are as reported by service providers, rather than analyst estimates. Cox Communications is not included in the top 10 as it does not report subscriber numbers.

The Multiscreen Index provides an industry benchmark of the relative performance of television service providers against which customer gains or losses can be measured.

www.multiscreenindex.com