Top 6 Pay TV Providers in Q4 2018

After the dramatic video subscriber losses across cable operators, telecoms and satellite providers in Q3 2018, the fourth quarter proved more stable for cable, according to FierceVideo.

Altice USA and Comcast reduced subscriber losses and Charter’s improvements moved them into a top three position in the fourth quarter. DirecTV and DirecTV Now experienced significant subscriber losses. When DirecTV now attempted to purge promotional pricing, they lost 267,00 subscribers during the fourth quarter. Research firm MoffettNathanson estimates that Hulu+ Live TV ended 2018 with about 1.7 million subscribers.

The top six US publicly traded pay TV operators are:

1. AT&T
2. Comcast
3. Charter
4. Dish Network
5. Verizon
6. Altice USA

 Additional findings include:

• Other vMVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu+ Live TV are showing rapid growth and smaller services like fuboTV and Philo are gaining traction, though at a slower rate.
• The US pay TV industry lost a combined 2.57 million subscribers.
• The entrance of 5G will give consumers another reason to cut the cord and move away from satellite broadcasting.

For details of this study, go to this FierceVideo article.