Comcast, Cablevision Lose More Video Subs

4 May, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

---

Pay-TV subscriber woes continue as cablers sugarcoat sub declines

Pay-TV subscriber woes continue.

Comcast May 4 said it lost 8,000 video subscribers in the first quarter (ended March 31) from the fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31. In reality, the No. 1 cabler finished Q1 with 232,000 fewer video subscribers than it did in the prior-year period, ending with 22.3 million.

Manhattan, N.Y.-based Cablevision said it lost 28,000 video subs since the end of last year. It actually finished the quarter down 146,000 video subs from last year to finish with 2.65 million.

That perhaps explains why Cablevision has become proactive toward subscription streaming.

Cablevision in April made HBO’s nascent subscription streaming service — HBO Now — available to its broadband Optimum Online subscribers. And on April 28, the cabler became the first domestic multichannel video program distributor to offer direct access to Hulu Plus, enabling subscribers to pay for the service through the monthly cable bill — a perk not even Netflix offers.

Comcast last week pulled the plug on its $45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable after federal regulators indicated unwillingness to greenlight the merger.

Bookmark it: