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Cord Cutters 2012 Report

PTBoardOp94

PTBoardOp94

According to their 2012 annual reports, compiled by me today:

Time Warner Cable lost 129,000 video subscribers, a drop of 1 percent. More importantly, video revenue fell by 1.3 percent despite a price increase. Both numbers are among TWC customers for one year or longer (basically excluding the Insight purchase).

Comcast lost 346,000 video subscribers, a drop of 1.5%, though the third quarter. Comcast managed to raise prices high enough to make 2 percent more revenue year-over-year, while operating profit rose 7%. Comcast will report its year-end results in a couple weeks.

Meanwhile: DirecTV US is up 220,000 subscribers in the last four quarters, and DISH Network is up 76,000 subscribers this year through the end of the third quarter.
 
Verizon and U-Verse are also adding subscribers.
There are also a growing number of households that are considered by Nielsen to be non-TV households.. yet they watch many hours of TV each day. Those households have a TV hooked up to a streaming service like Netflix without any connection to an antenna or cable.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Meanwhile: DirecTV US is up 220,000 subscribers in the last four quarters, and DISH Network is up 76,000 subscribers this year through the end of the third quarter.
Click to expand...

The numbers for DirecTV stymies the hell out of me! I had them and their dismal excuse for customer service. When they wouldn't offer me their "HD Free for Life" like they do for their new subscribers I told them to cancel - then the drone in the retention department asked if there was anything they could do to keep my business. When I repeated my request for HD Free for Life they "couldn't" help me. Looking at their BBB customer ratings I can see why they get a big fat F rating. I think the only reason Dish doesn't do better is that Direct has a lock on the sports programming. Somebody should challenge that, and that would level things out.

The losses with cable is not a great shock. I see young people watching "television" on everything from cell phones to iPads so why do they need cable?
 
Cable companies are a big rip off IMO. Satellite and fiber-optic may be too, but not as bad. A LOT of Comcast's subscribers hate it.

Most of the (few) people I know that don't have cable use OTA and Netflix. IMO, Netflix is super overrated. For TV, I'm surprised it's more popular than Amazon Prime Streaming. IMO, that is the best (you can buy "season passes" for shows and have them automatically added to your account the next morning for a couple of bucks an episode, and you'll always have them, while with Netflix you wait years to see them, if ever). Prime has a better library of shows too and more recent "free" episodes. Amazon has way deeper pockets than Netflix, and is increasing their content, so I think they will soon be a force to be reckoned with in the streaming world.

I'm probably considered a "young person" and I can't imagine watching more than a 2 minute video on an iPhone screen. Somewhat of a "home theater" enthusiast, though.
 
tested said:
Verizon and U-Verse are also adding subscribers.
Click to expand...

Good point.
Verizon Fios added 144,000 video subscribers in the fourth quarter alone, and almost 500,000 for the full year 2012.
AT&T U-Verse added 192,000 in the fourth quarter, and almost 700,000 for the full year 2012.

Those are quite good numbers. Makes you wonder if the losses at TWC and Comcast are really due to the ever-increasing prices, or just comtastic service.
 
So from what we know, almost 1.5 million pay-TV subscribers (probably more with Dish just reporting through Q3) were added by FiOS, U-Verse, DirecTV, and Dish last year, but the 2 leading cable companies reporting a loss. Not surprised. Those 4 are all more affordable, have better hardware, and have better service. They are all a better value than the regular cable companies. They don't seem willing to become more competitive with their pricing, though.

Of course, we don't know with the other 2 cable providers (Cox and Charter). I can't see Charter adding any subscribers - we used to have them around here and everything I heard about them was horrible.

Overall, I think DirecTV is more affordable than DishNet. I think DTV will continue to add more subscribers than Dish this year. Pay TV isn't "bleeding" subscribers due to cord cutting like some opponents of it claim - far from it.
 
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