Cable and satellite TV providers are shedding subscribers at ever-faster rates as more people turn to cheaper streaming services and free over-the-air broadcasts. Adding up the losses of AT&T, Dish Network, Charter, Comcast, Verizon, and Altice, traditional TV losses reached 1,139,000 subscribers in Q1 2019, up from 631,000 lost subscribers last year. That makes for an 80% year-over-year increase in cord-cutting among the major providers.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- AT&T: Lost 544,000 DirecTV and U-Verse subscribers, versus 187,000 in Q1 2018 (DirecTV also lost 83,000)
- Dish Network: Lost 266,000 satellite TV subscribers, versus 185,000 in Q1 2018 (Sling TV gained 7,000)
- Charter: Lost 145,000 TV subscribers, versus 111,000 in Q1 2018
- Comcast: Lost 121,000 TV subscribers, versus 96,000 in Q1 2018
- Verizon: Lost 53,000 TV subscribers, versus 22,000 in Q1 2018
- Altice: Lost 10,000 residential TV subscribers, versus 30,000 in Q1 2018
While cord-cutting still hits satellite TV the hardest—with Dish’s Sling TV and AT&T’s DirecTV no longer picking up the slack—the trend is also accelerating for cable companies. Those companies are still doing well by selling the requisite internet service for video streaming, but the idea that they’ll just prevent cord-cutting through bundles is increasingly proving false.
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