Expect 'Unprecedented' MVPD Subscriber Losses This Year, Kagan Says

Legacy MVPDs lost a record number of subscribers in Q2, short of the symbolic 1 million threshold, but this year's trajectory is pointing to "an unprecedented annual decline," Kagan announced Tuesday evening. Traditional MVPD subscriptions dipped below 96.1 million in Q2, down 1.8 million since the end of 2016, though the addition of virtual MVPDs DirecTV Now and Sling TV affiliated with legacy MVPDs lifts the combined total subscriptions to live linear channel/on-demand content packages to 85 million, Kagan said. The 246,000 Q2 subs losses reported by cable operators, plus Q1 losses, mean total losses at mid-year are up 56 percent year over year, it said, saying DBS losses of 443,000 in Q2 put them below 33 million subs for the first time since 2010. The researcher said telco video subs dropped 10.9 million, with most of it attributable to AT&T's U-verse. The firm said, based on Census Bureau data, 76 percent of the potential subscriber universe had a legacy MVPD product.