US broadband subscribers surpass pay TV subs

Bruce Leichtman

The number of broadband subscribers surpassed the number of pay TV subscribers in the US during Q1 2017, according to Leichtman Research Group (LRG).

The research firm said that the 14 largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 95% of the market – acquired about 960,000 net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the first quarter of this year.

The top cable companies added about one million subscribers in Q1 2017, while the top telephone companies lost about 45,000 subscribers, according to the report.

Over the past year, there were about 2,530,000 net broadband additions – compared to about 3,035,000 over the prior year, said LRG.

However, the firm also recently reported the largest pay TV providers in the US – representing 95% of the market – lost some 410,000 net video subscribers in 1Q 2017, marking the first time that the industry has ever had net subscriber losses in the first quarter of a year.