Data Shows More Than 1 Million People Cut The Cord Last Quarter

More than 1 million people "ditched their cable and satellite TV packages" in Q3, the "most ever in a quarterly earnings period," according to Sara Fischer of AXIOS. AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish combined "lost 887,000 subscribers this quarter, mostly driven by big losses at Dish and AT&T." Dish "lost 367,000 customers, its highest quarterly loss ever," while AT&T "lost 359,000 subscribers for the quarter, far surpassing analyst estimates of 245,000 subscribers lost." Nielsen shows there are "roughly 120 million TV homes in the U.S.," and about "90 million of them (75%) still pay for traditional TV." However, that percentage has been "decreasing as more people cut the cord." Many pay-TV providers are "hoping to offset losses with gains in subscribers to digital TV alternatives," like AT&T's DirecTV Now or Dish Net's Sling TV. However, those companies "haven't been able to come close to closing the gap" (AXIOS.com, 11/8).