Results from the last two fiscal quarters show that cord-cutting is real for Canada's cable, satellite and telephone companies, according to research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services. On a positive note, IPTV providers saw their market share increase from 8 percent to 12 percent year-over-year.
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Canadian traditional TV service market share by distributor.(Source: Boon Dog Professional Services) |
In its "Canadian Digital TV Market Monitor," Boon Dog researchers determined that publicly traded TV service providers lost about 8,175 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2012, then watched as another 5,394 left the fold in the first quarter of 2013. This, researchers said, marked the first time that the traditional TV subscription market declined in size since the launch of cable TV in the early 1950s.
As of December 2012, the report says, cable still dominated the market with a 61 percent share. That, however, was down from 62 percent in the year-ago period. Satellite continued to come in second at 27 percent (down from 29 percent year-over-year) and IPTV climbed to 12 percent compared to 2011's 8 percent. The forecasters used that data to determine that cable would control 58 percent of the market in 2015, followed by satellite and IPTV in a dead heat at 21 percent each.
"While the recent decline in subscribers in Canada is small relative to the size of the total TV market, we now have two consecutive quarters of data for the Canadian market that confirms that cord cutting is a reality here too," said Mario Mota, Boon Dog partner and principal author of the report.
This, he said, adds onto findings by U.S. analyst Craig Moffett that "concluded that cord-cutting is real in the U.S. market."
For more:
- see this press release (.pdf)
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