Pay-TV providers lose a record 1.5 million subscribers in Q2 2019

Pay-TV providers lost a record 1.5 million video subscribers in the second quarter of 2019, nearly four times the loss for the same period in 2018. According to the data tallied by Leichtman Research, every major pay TV service lost subscribers in the second quarter of 2019. DirectTV lost 778,000 subscribers, Comcast lost 224,000 subscribers, and Charter lost 141,000 subscribers. 

Cord-cutting, or cancelling traditional video service for over-the-top streaming services or no service at all, is a problem for traditional pay-TV companies across the industry. In recent years, over-the-top services like Netflix and Hulu have increased their share of viewing hours by a significant margin. Companies are adapting by trying to grow the amount of content they offer and provide their own alternative over-the-top service, like DirecTV NOW which was recently rebranded as AT&T TV NOW. 

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Major Pay TV Providers Lost Over 1.5M Customers In Q2: Leichtman (Multichannel News, Aug. 12, 2019)