By The Numbers: U.S. MSOs Losing Subscriber Ground

According to N.H.-based Leichtman Research Group Inc. (LRG), the 13 largest U.S. MSOs — representing some 94 percent of the market — acquired more than 170,000 net additional video subscribers in 2012, but that’s about 230,000 fewer than in 2011. The top nine cablecos lost 1.4 million video subs last year, compared with about 1.6 million in 2011. The top telco providers added 1.3 million video subs, down from 1.5 million a year earlier. And satellite providers counted 288,000 video subs in 2012 and 496,000 net adds in 2011. What this all means, LRG says, is that cable providers now have a 54-percent share of the top multichannel video subs, compared with a 58-percent share two years ago. Looking at LRG’s numbers, Time Warner Cable was down the most last year (-525,000), while Verizon FiOS picked up 553,000 and AT&T Uverse won 745,000 new subs.