Pay TV subscriber losses rise, sending bundle into 'death spiral' - Business Insider

Pay-TV providers are losing subscribers as economic uncertainty looms and live sports — TV's biggest viewership draw — remain off the air.

Industry experts, including Craig Moffett at MoffettNathanson, told Business Insider that the rise in pay TV losses is sending the pay-TV bundle into a "death spiral" that's pushing a key segment of entertainment-driven TV viewers further away. Virtual streaming-TV services Sling TV and AT&T TV Now lost subscribers, and Hulu Live, the only service to report growth during the quarter, added just 100,000 subscribers.

The crisis is accelerating the shift of entertainment-focused viewers away from traditional-TV services and toward cheaper streaming options. Experts said the severe losses from the first quarter stemmed from price hikes at a bunch providers, including Comcast, Charter, Altice, Sling TV, and Hulu, as well as the loss of live sports toward the end of the period. The acceleration has less to do with the outbreak than a lot of people think ... which is what frankly worries me," Hodulik at UBS said. "We're just getting started here.

"We could see a similar year-over-year increase in the number of video customer net losses in the second quarter," Mike Cavanagh, Comcast's chief financial officer, said on the company's earnings call, "likely still a reflection of our beginning-of-year rate increase as well as changing consumer preferences and economic stress."

"The numbers this quarter are profound," said Bruce Leichtman, at Leichtman Research Group. "But when you listen to the earnings calls, they're talking about a slowdown in connects."

I’ve been out for 5 years and sports was the only thing providing a chance for return. No sports = no need for TV

I think the ridiculous cost of cable is the real reason people are dumping it

There’s almost nothing good on tv anymore

uh, you are called the 'insider' right? this was news to most ppl 2 years ago.

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