Serious, Big-Boy Cord-Cutting Finally Catches Up to Charter — Top Pay TV Provider Just Had Its Worst Quarterly Customer Losses Ever

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While Comcast, DirecTV and Dish have been withered by attrition in recent years, Charter had largely been spared … until now

Charter Communications
(Image credit: Charter Communications)

As video cord-cutting has withered the customer ranks of the top pay TV operators to mere shadows of what they once were, Charter Communications has, to a degree, been spared the worst impact.

Last year, for example, as Comcast bled out 2.036 million linear video customers, and DirecTV lost an estimated 1.8 million customers, according to one third-party estimate, Charter lost only 1.025 million video subs — and, in the process, surpassed Comcast as the largest pay TV operator in the U.S. 

Also read: Charter Reports Higher Q1 Profits Despite Broadband, Video Losses

With both cable companies reporting their first-quarter earnings this week, and Comcast reporting the loss of another 487,000 video subscribers, Charter still holds that distinction. But its immunity to pay TV's downward secular trend appears to be at an end. 

Charter reported the loss of 392,000 video subscribers in the first quarter Friday, 405,000 total factoring in business customers. According to Bruce Leichtman of Leichtman Research Group, who has tracked telecom customer growth spanning decades, that's the worst video customer quarter Charter has ever experienced. 

Charter reported only 241,000 lost customers across Spectrum Video and business TV product lines in the first quarter of 2023. 

It should be noted that Charter is well aware of the issue. The operator doesn't seem inclined to abandon video and cede it to Google and YouTube TV, as many of its smaller cable peers have. And Charter is making bold moves … yes, strategic ones.

Notable was its landmark content licensing renegotiation with Disney last year, which has allowed it to bundle popular SVOD services, including Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, while also carving out the ability to create lower-cost skinny bundles that lack expensive sports channels. 

In fact, Spectrum TV Stream — which bundles more than 90 entertainment channels for $40 a month with virtual MVPD immediate sign-up-and-cancel ease — was just announced last week.

Will new products like Spectrum TV Stream turn the tide for Charter?

For its part, vMVPD YouTube TV, which added close to 2 million subscribers last year according to Leichtman, has proven consumers are still into pay TV, so long as it's priced affordably, transparently, merchandised attractively ... and doesn't include too much in the way of fat. 

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!