Big Cable on pace to lose 1 million subscribers this quarter
"With five out of the top seven publicly traded linear pay TV platforms, including the top three, reporting customer numbers, it appears the industry's record-bad third-quarter subscriber losses could indeed surpass 1 million users, as some analysts have predicted," Fierce Cable reports.
The big picture: We're still waiting on Dish and Altice earnings, but so far 632,000 Pay-TV subscriber losses have been reported in Q3:
Verizon: Lost 18,000 Fios TV users
AT&T: Lost 251,000 for DirecTV and 134,000 for U-verse
Comcast: Lost 125,000 Pay-TV subscribers
Charter: Lost 104,000 Pay-TV subscribers (Legacy Charter lost 11,000; Time Warner lost ~86,000; Bright House lost 7,000)
Why it matters: Pay-TV losses are forcing the top cable, satellite and video providers to double down on other products and services.
Broadband services, particularly wireless broadband, for the most part is a higher-margin business than video, and margins only increase as consumers double down on streaming digital video. Comcast, Verizon and AT&T executives all discussed ways Pay-TV declines are leading to higher broadband revenues through increased video streaming.Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts said on last week's Q3 earnings, "We've anticipated this shift that's coming ... I think we've taken our innovation machine and pointed it as well now to broadband and broadband-only homes, and I think you'll see more of that coming in the future."AT&T SVP and CFO John Stephens said on last week's earnings call that the number of TV-and-wireless bundles have grown by 20% since the DTV (DirecTV) deal closed.Verizon EVP and CFO Matthew Ellis confirmed to investors two weeks ago that it still intends to launch its fixed wireless broadband offering in 2018.
Data and advertising: The MVPD's with content investments are hoping an expanded data set will lead them to more lucrative digital advertising opportunities. Verizon: With the addition of Oath, Verizon's Matthew Ellis says the company's addressable market "has expanded from millions of wireless and wireline customers to about one billion global content consumers."AT&T: AT&T's John Stephens says its advertising business is growing in "double digits," largely due to an increase in data-based digital TV ad buying. He suggested on its earnings call that "the indications are that this can be effective" for Time Warner's business (when/if the future merger goes through), based on what it has seen in its ad tech business and its entertainment group.
Streaming video: AT&T's DirecTV Now seems to be leading the pack. DirectTV added nearly 300,000 subscribers in Q3, bringing its total to nearly 800,000 customers in less than a year.
