Cord-cutting continued at a rapid pace in the US during Q3 2018, as the top-10 US pay-television operators suffered a combined loss of over 877,000 subscribers to their linear offerings, according to a report by Multiscreen Index.
Satellite operators Dish and DirecTV were the biggest losers, shedding 367,000 and 359,000 subscribers respectively. Cable operator Comcast lost 96,000, while telco Verizon’s Fios IPTV service lost 63,000.
US satellite operators have lost 1.58 million subscribers between them during 2018, leaving overall US pay-television subscriber numbers at 82.7 million.
The growth of Dish and DirecTV’s video on-demand services somewhat stemmed the linear decline. DirecTV Now added 63,000 subscribers in Q3, while Dish-owned Sling TV added 26,000 subscribers.