Research firm SNL Kagan estimates total video customer losses for U.S. pay-TV operators exceeded 1 million in 2015 when estimated additions of 538,000 subscriber additions for Dish Network's IP-based Sling TV service aren't factored in.
A tally published last week by Leichtman Research has U.S. MVPDs losing a total of 385,000 video customers last year. That report was based largely on the public disclosures of the largest publicly traded operators and accounted for about 95 percent of the U.S. pay-TV market.
Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) said it lost 81,000 customers last year. But SNL Kagan said the losses to its core satellite TV service probably exceeded 500,000.
Meanwhile, once the myriad smaller cable systems across the U.S. are factored in, the research company said cable's total pay-TV losses came in at around 599,000 — which was still the sector's best performance since 2007.
SNL Kagan said the telco stayed area flat with 2014.
All told, the 2015 losses more than quadrupled what was reported for 2014. It also marked the third consecutive year of customer declines for the pay-TV industry.
SNL Kagan did say that losses stabilized to only 15,000 in the fourth quarter.
For more:
- read this SNL Kagan press release
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