Major U.S. pay TV providers lost 785,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022

Major Pay-TV Providers Lost About 785,000 Subscribers in 3Q 2022

DURHAM, NH — Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 92% of the market – lost about 785,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2022, compared to a pro forma net loss of 650,000 in 3Q 2021.

The top pay-TV providers now account for about 71.4 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 38.6 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 24.8 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having over 8 million subscribers.

Key findings for the quarter include:

• Top cable providers had a net loss of about 980,000 video subscribers in 3Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 700,000 subscribers in 3Q 2021
• Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 700,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022 – compared to a loss of about 630,000 subscribers in 3Q 2021
• Top publicly reporting vMVPDs added about 900,000 subscribers in 3Q 2022 – compared to a gain of about 680,000 subscribers in 3Q 2021

“Spurred by a strong quarter from Internet-delivered vMVPD services, pay-TV net losses of about 785,000 in 3Q 2022 were more modest than in the first two quarters of the year,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Not including YouTube TV, which does not regularly report subscriber totals, vMVPDs had nearly 900,000 net additions in the quarter. This was the third most quarterly net adds ever for the top publicly reporting vMVPD services.”

                             Subscribers at     Net Adds
Pay-TV Providers             End of 3Q 2022   in 3Q 2022
---------------------------  --------------  -----------
Cable Companies
 Comcast                         16,582,000    (562,000)
 Charter                         15,291,000    (204,000)
 Cox*                             3,140,000     (90,000)
 Altice                           2,491,800     (82,400)
 Mediacom*                          525,000     (15,000)
 Breezeline**                       323,038      (9,274)
 Cable One**                        202,000     (19,000)
Total Top Cable                  38,554,838    (981,674)

Other Traditional Services
 DIRECTV^                        13,500,000    (400,000)
 DISH TV (DBS)                    7,607,000    (184,000)
 Verizon Fios (Telco)             3,383,000     (96,000)
 Frontier (Telco)*                  322,000     (21,000)
Total Top Other Traditional      24,812,000    (701,000)

Internet-Delivered (vMVPD)
 Hulu + Live TV                   4,400,000      400,000
 Sling TV                         2,411,000      214,000
 fuboTV                           1,231,000      284,265
Total Top vMVPD^^                 8,042,000      898,265

Total Top Providers              71,408,838    (784,409)

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* LRG estimate
** LRG estimate of pro forma net adds
^ LRG estimate, includes DIRECTV, U-verse, and DIRECTV Stream
^^ List does not include YouTube TV or Philo, as neither regularly report results. YouTube noted in a blog post that the TV service had “5 million subscribers and trialers” at the end of June 2022.
Company subscriber counts may not solely represent residential households
Top pay-TV providers represent approximately 92% of all subscribers

Net additions reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions, reporting adjustments, and changes to the list of top providers – therefore, comparing totals in this release to prior releases will not produce accurate findings