U.S. cable and satellite TV operators took it on the chin again in the historically weak second quarter, while the telcos pulled in some solid subscriber gains, Leichtman Research Group found in its latest analysis of the pay-TV industry.
The thirteen-largest multi-channel video providers in the U.S., representing 94% of the market, lost a combined 345,000 net video subs in the second quarter, which is typically plagued by "seasonality" as college students and snowbirds churn out. That compares to the 325,000 subs those providers lost in the second quarter of 2012 and 2011, LRG said.
Broken down, the top nine cable MSOs shed about 555,000 video subs in the second quarter, versus the 540,000 subs lost in the year-ago quarter. Dish Network and DirecTV, meanwhile, lost 162,000 subs, expanding on the 62,000 they lost a year earlier.
Click here to read the full story at Multichannel.com.
