Major US pay-TV providers drop 1,925,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022
AUGUST 15, 2022 11.18 EUROPE/LONDON BY BROADBAND TV NEWS CORRESPONDENT

New data collated by Leichtman Research Group has found the largest pay-TV providers in the United States – representing about 92% of the market – have between them lost about 1,925,000 net video subscribers in 2Q 2022. This compares with a pro forma net loss of 1,235,000 in 2Q 2021.

The top pay-TV providers now account for about 72.2 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 39.5 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 25.5 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having about 7.2 million subscribers.

Key findings for the quarter include:

Top cable providers had a net loss of about 950,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 590,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021
Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 710,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 700,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021
Top publicly reporting vMVPDs had a net loss of about 265,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022 – compared to a gain of about 55,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021
“The second quarter of 2022 marked the second consecutive quarter with over 1.9 million net pay-TV losses,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 5,425,000 subscribers, compared to a net loss of about 4,550,000 over the prior year.”

Subscribers at Net Adds
Pay-TV Providers End of 2Q 2022 in 2Q 2022
--------------------------- -------------- -----------
Cable Companies
Comcast 17,144,000 (520,000)
Charter 15,495,000 (226,000)
Cox* 3,230,000 (80,000)
Altice 2,574,200 (84,500)
Mediacom* 540,000 (15,000)
Breezeline** 332,312 (6,709)
Cable One** 221,000 (17,000)
Total Top Cable 39,536,512 (949,209)

Other Traditional Services
DIRECTV^ 13,900,000 (400,000)
DISH TV (DBS) 7,791,000 (202,000)
Verizon Fios (Telco) 3,479,000 (87,000)
Frontier (Telco)* 343,000 (20,000)
Total Top Other Traditional 25,513,000 (709,000)

Internet-Delivered (vMVPD)
Hulu + Live TV 4,000,000 (100,000)
Sling TV 2,197,000 (55,000)
fuboTV 946,735 (109,510)
Total Top vMVPD^^ 7,143,735 (264,510)

Total Top Providers 72,193,247 (1,922,719)