The latest Multiscreen Index from informitv shows the leading 100 pay-TV services saw a total quarterly increase of 3.45 million subscribers, up by 0.8 percent over the third quarter of 2016, compared to 3.74 million or 0.95 percent a year ago.
Of the 100 services in the Multiscreen Index, 57 reported net television subscriber gains in the third quarter, compared to 59 in the same period a year prior. AT&T U-verse had the largest loss of subs, down by 326,000, although the AT&T satellite subsidiary DIRECTV gained 323,000.
In the U.S., six of the top ten services lost television subscribers in the quarter and they were collectively down by 73,000 over the quarter and 357,700 year-on-year. There was a modest quarterly increase across North, Central and South America of 250,000 subscribers, reversing a regional decline in the previous quarter.
In Europe, Tricolor had the largest subscriber increase, up by 130,000, taking its total to 12 million. Sky gained 106,000 customers across Europe, including 49,000 in Germany and Austria.
The Asia-Pacific region saw an increase of 2.54 million subscribers, with six operators in India claiming combined gains of 2.19 million—led by Hathway, which added 800,000.
“Once again the largest increase was in the Asia-Pacific region, which has added 14.37 million television subscribers in 12 months,” said informitv analyst Dr. Sue Farrell.
“Six of the top 10 services in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region gained television customers,” noted Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “The region saw a modest increase of 0.65 million over the quarter.”
