A Canadian research firm continues to suggest that cord cutting is the reason why Canadian MVPDs ended up losing a net 19,624 subscribers in the second quarter, even though statistics seem to indicate the losses were only among incumbent cable operators.
"While Q2 is traditionally a slow quarter for TV service subscriber growth, the latest subscriber results signal an acceleration of so-called cord-cutting in the Canadian traditional TV service market," a press release from research firm Boon Dog Professional Services said.
A deeper look into the statistics, however, reveals a trend more akin to what's happening in other countries where telcos and IPTV providers are offering competitive services and picking up subs who are leaving cable operators. While Canadian cable operators across-the-board reported 88,671 subscriber losses in the quarter, telcos Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE), Telus (NYSE: TU), Bell Aliant and MTS combined to gain 69,047, Boon Dog's statistics indicate.
Boon Dog, in its research report "Canadian Digital TV Market Monitor," laid the losses at the feet of cord cutters "given that the best capitalized TV service providers lost customers as a whole in each of the last three quarters (and) the entire traditional TV service market also shrank by similar levels in the same period."
"While the decline in subscribers in Canada is small relative to the size of the total TV market, it is statistically significant because we too now have three straight quarters of data for the Canadian market that confirms that cord-cutting is a reality," Mario Mota, Boon Dog Partner and principal author of the report said in the press release. "The cord-cutting situation in Canada mirrors what is happening south of the border."
For more:
- Boon Dog issued this press release
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