Thanks to a series of moves last year by pay-TV operators to integrate services like Netflix and Hulu into their user interfaces, 20 percent of U.S. MVPDs now offer SVOD services within the confines of their program bundle, SNL Kagan reports.
Of the 10 large and mid-sized operators that do integrate SVOD into their program grids, nine have lost subscribers since they started.
This metric includes mid-sized operators like Suddenlink and Mediacom, which deliver the Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) application to customers via TiVo set-top and user interfaces. Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH), which has integrated Netflix into its UI for the last year, will feature the SVOD services on-demand programming within its live linear guide on next-generation Hopper 3 DVRS.
Dish will also offer integrated YouTube access on these devices. Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), meanwhile, will soon offer CBS All Access and Showtime's direct-to-consumer platform alongside Netflix and Hulu.
"The impact of opening the door to OTT competition remains mostly inconclusive," SNL analyst Ian Olgeirson said in his report. "While it's clear that the group has generally suffered larger subscriber losses than the industry at large, we are unable to draw a direct line to the introduction of integrated OTT offerings."
The only operator to gain subscribers since it started including SVOD into its programming mix is Atlantic Broadband, which is up 9,000 video customers since it began offering Netflix to TiVo users in the first quarter of 2014.
Cable One leads all decliners, losing 22,000 video customers from the second quarter of 2014, when it began offering TiVo-enabled access of Netflix and Hulu, through the third quarter of 2015.
However, as Olgeirson noted, operators like Cablevision and Cable One create a clouded perspective on the impact of adding SVOD to program bundles since both have said that growing video subscriptions is no longer a priority.
For more:
- read this SNL Kagan report
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