Google Fiber ended 2016 with 84,232 pay-TV subs, marking a sharp decline in the rate of growth, MoffettNathanson found in an analysis based on fresh data from the U.S. Copyright Office.
Across all Google Fiber markets, year-on-year growth declined to 57.8%, from 78.8% a year ago, the firm found. But Google Fiber's video business is still growing amid a rising cord-cutting trend that is affecting most major U.S. pay TV providers.
In a blog item published Monday, Craig Moffett, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, acknowledged that the semiannual data from the copyright office “is completely blind to broadband, which is arguably Google Fiber’s more important line of business.”
Moffett added: “We would naturally prefer to have data on the broadband market, which, after all, was always Google’s principal aim. We rely on this data set only because it is the only one we’ve got. Perhaps their broadband results are better.”
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