Top U.S. pay-TV providers lost 1,730,000 subscribers in 2Q 2023

Major Pay-TV Providers Lost About 1,730,000 Subscribers in 2Q 2023

DURHAM, NH — Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 96% of the market – lost about 1,730,000 net video subscribers in 2Q 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1,725,000 in 2Q 2022.

The top pay-TV providers now account for about 71.9 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having 35.9 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 22.7 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having about 13.4 million subscribers.

Key findings for the quarter include:

• Top cable providers had a net loss of about 925,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 950,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022
• Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 690,000 subscribers in 2Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 710,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022
• Top vMVPDs (including an estimate for YouTube TV) had a net loss of about 115,000 subscribers in 2Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 65,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022

“Pay-TV net losses of about 1.73 million in 2Q 2023 were similar to the losses in last year’s second quarter,” 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 5,360,000 subscribers, compared to a net loss of about 4,235,000 over the prior year.”

                                 Subscribers at     Net Adds
Pay-TV Providers                 End of 2Q 2023   in 2Q 2023
-------------------------------  --------------  -----------
Cable Companies
 Comcast                             14,985,000    (543,000)
 Charter                             14,706,000    (200,000)
 Altice                               2,405,900     (69,900)
 Breezeline                             296,952      (3,732)
 Cable One                              158,100      (8,900)
 Other major private companies*       3,340,000    (100,000)
Total Top Cable                      35,891,952    (925,532)

Other Traditional Services
 DIRECTV**                           12,350,000    (400,000)
 DISH TV (DBS)                        6,901,000    (197,000)
 Verizon Fios (Telco)                 3,155,000     (70,000)
 Frontier (Telco)^^                     267,000     (21,000)
Total Top Other Traditional          22,673,000    (688,000)

Internet-Delivered (vMVPD)
 YouTube TV^                          5,900,000      200,000
 Hulu + Live TV                       4,300,000    (100,000)
 Sling TV                             2,003,000     (97,000)
 Fubo                                 1,167,000    (118,000)
Total Top vMVPD                      13,370,000    (115,000)

Total Top Providers                  71,934,952  (1,728,532)

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* Includes LRG estimates for Cox and Mediacom
** LRG estimate, includes DIRECTV, U-verse, and DIRECTV Stream
^ LRG estimate
^^ Includes LRG estimate for non-residential subscribers
Company subscriber counts may not solely represent residential households
Top pay-TV providers represent approximately 96% 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