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Business
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Title: Pay Tv Industry Loses Record Number Of Subscribers
Source: Yahoo! Finance
URL Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Pay-T ... record-apf-4130291642.html?x=0
Published: Aug 10, 2011
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2011-08-10 11:16:28 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 2384
Comments: 8

NEW YORK (AP) -- The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set.

They're canceling or forgoing cable and satellite TV subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of the companies' quarterly earnings reports.

The U.S. subscription-TV industry first showed a small net loss of subscribers a year ago. This year, that trickle has turned into a stream. The chief cause appears to be persistently high unemployment and a housing market that has many people living with their parents, reducing the need for a separate cable bill.

But it's also possible that people are canceling cable, or never signing up in the first place, because they're watching cheap Internet video. Such a threat has been hanging over the industry. If that's the case, viewers can expect more restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they produce.

In a tally by the AP, eight of the nine largest subscription-TV providers in the U.S. lost 195,700 subscribers in the April-to-June quarter.

That's the first quarterly loss for the group, which serves about 70 percent of households. The loss amounts to 0.2 percent of their 83.2 million video subscribers.

The group includes four of the five biggest cable companies, which have been losing subscribers for years. It also includes phone companies Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. and satellite broadcasters DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. These four have been poaching customers from cable, making up for cable-company losses -- until now.

The phone companies kept adding subscribers in the second quarter, but Dish lost 135,000. DirecTV gained a small number, so combined, the U.S. satellite broadcasters lost subscribers in the quarter -- a first for the industry.

The AP's tally excludes Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company, and a bevy of smaller cable companies. Cox is privately held and does not disclose subscriber numbers.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett estimates that the subscription-TV industry, including the untallied cable companies, lost 380,000 subscribers in the quarter. That's about one out of every 300 U.S. households, and more than twice the losses in the second quarter of last year. Ian Olgeirson at SNL Kagan puts the number even higher, at 425,000 to 450,000 lost subscribers.

The second quarter is always the year's worst for cable and satellite companies, as students cancel service at the end of the spring semester. Last year, growth came back in the fourth quarter. But looking back over the past 12 months, the industry is still down, by Moffett's estimate. That's also a first.

The subscription-TV industry is no longer buoyed by its first flush of growth, so the people who cancel because they're unemployed are outweighing the very small number of newcomers who've never had cable or satellite before. Dish CEO Joe Clayton told analysts on a conference call Tuesday that the industry is "increasingly saturated."

But like other industry executives, Clayton sees renewed growth around the corner. Though his company saw the biggest increase in subscriber flight compared with a year ago, he blamed much of that on a strategic pullback in advertising, which will be reversed before the end of the year.

Other executives gave few indications that the industry has hit a wall. For most of the big companies, the slowdown is slight, hardly noticeable except when looking across all of them. Nor do they believe Internet video is what's causing people to leave.

Glenn Britt, the CEO of Time Warner Cable Inc. said the effect of Internet video on the number of cable subscribers is "very, very modest;" in fact, so small that it's hard to measure.

SNL Kagan's Olgeirson said the people canceling subscriptions behind, or never signing up, are an elusive group, difficult to count. Yet he believes the trend is real, and he calls it the "elephant in the room" for the industry.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that young, educated people who aren't interested in live programs such as sports are finding it easier to go without cable. Video-streaming sites like Netflix.com and Hulu.com are helping, as they run many popular TV shows for free, sometimes the day after they air on television.

In June, The Nielsen Co. said it found that Americans who watch the most video online tend to watch less TV. The ratings agency said it started noticing last fall that a segment of consumers were starting to make a trade-off between online video and regular TV. The activity was more pronounced among people ages 18-34.

Olgeirson expects programmers to keep tightening access to shows and movies online. A few years ago, Olgeirson said, "they threw open the doors," figuring they'd make money from ads accompanying online video besides traditional sources such as the fees they charge cable companies to carry their channels. But if looks as if online video might endanger revenue from cable, which is still far larger, they'll pull back.

"Are they really going to jeopardize that? The answer is no," Olgeirson said.

Already, News Corp.'s Fox broadcasting company is delaying reruns on Hulu by a week unless the viewer pays a $8-a-month subscription for Hulu Plus or subscribes to Dish's satellite TV service. Other subscription-TV providers may join in the future. TV producers and distributors want to discourage people from dropping their subscriptions.

Moffett believes it's hard to separate the effect of the economy from that of Internet video. Subscription-TV providers keep raising rates because content providers such as Hollywood studios and sports leagues demand ever higher prices. That's causing a collision with the economic realities of American households.

"Rising prices for pay TV, coupled with growing availability of lower cost alternatives, add to a toxic mix at a time when disposable income isn't growing," Moffett said.

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#1. To: Brian S (#0)

I keep thinking of dumping my satellite and using free air wave local TV. Years ago I started out at about $29 a month and now it's up to $63 a month. They add BS channels I never watch. There is only one hourly show a week I go out of my way to watch - Breaking Bad. I could easily watch it on Hulu.com a day or so after it shows - for free.

$63 will buy lots of beer.

Fred Mertz  posted on  2011-08-10   11:27:00 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Brian S (#0)

No surprise that people who are unemployed pick premium tv services as the first things they cut out. Especially since the companies keep raising their prices and most subscribers don't even watch the majority of the channels they provide.

The people who are retired in place on welfare and living lives of leisure ain't about to drop their services as long as their checks keep coming in. After all,they are the ones who are home all day and night,and have plenty of time to watch them.

"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)

sneakypete  posted on  2011-08-10   11:30:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: sneakypete (#2) (Edited)

The people who are retired in place on welfare and living lives of leisure ain't about to drop their services as long as their checks keep coming in. After all,they are the ones who are home all day and night,and have plenty of time to watch them.

I have to assume you know what you are talking about since your VA benefits must give you even more leisure time to enjoy.

mininggold  posted on  2011-08-10   11:51:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: mininggold (#3)

I have to assume you know what you are talking about since your VA benefits must give you even more leisure time to enjoy.

True,but only because I am rated at 100 percent disabled due to service-related injuries. Disabled veterans who are "only" rated at 50 percent disabled and can't get or hold a job because of it get a LOT less than the typical welfare parasite,who unlike the disabled veteran,did absolutely NOTHING to earn the checks they get.

Not that I expect a partisan fool like you to understand the difference between earned money and welfare. After all,there is a reason you are a Dim.

"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)

sneakypete  posted on  2011-08-10   12:02:07 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: sneakypete (#4) (Edited)

Not that I expect a partisan fool like you to understand the difference between earned money and welfare. After all,there is a reason you are a Dim.

So you are accusing me of being a Tea Partier now? I haven't been a 'Dim' (except when I was stupid enough to vote Pubby) since 1976.

BTW it sounds like you qualify for Aid and Attendance too

mininggold  posted on  2011-08-10   12:10:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: mininggold (#5) (Edited)

So you are accusing me of being a Tea Partier now? I haven't been a 'Dim' (except when I was stupid enough to vote Pubby) since 1976.

You might want to back off on the grain alcohol a bit. Maybe try less than a gallon a day?

BTW,mixing it with cough medicine is no help.

You really don't have any IQ points you can afford to lose. 10 fewer and you are a amoeba.

"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)

sneakypete  posted on  2011-08-10   20:00:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Brian S (#0) (Edited)

The internet is going to kill TV as we know it in the next 10 years.

People don't want schedules. They also want to participate.

Video games, the internet and a melding of the two are going to suck up an increasing portion of people's entertainment dollars.

I'm not a gamer, but most people that I know are.

But I do spend way more time on the internet than watching the boob tube. In fact, other than a few news shows, Family Guy, and on occasional rerun on Seinfeld, I don't watch TV at all.


This small group of terrorists [Tea Party members] have made it impossible to spend any money. -- Mike Doyle (D-PA)

jwpegler  posted on  2011-08-10   20:54:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: sneakypete, mininggold (#6)

You might want to back off on the grain alcohol a bit. Maybe try less than a gallon a day?

BTW,mixing it with cough medicine is no help.

You really don't have any IQ points you can afford to lose. 10 fewer and you are a amoeba.

LMAO...

AND, the amoeba crack was killer.

"It's not surprising, then, they [White Pennsylvanians] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." ~ Comrade-in-Chief Barry Hussein 0bama

Liberator  posted on  2011-08-10   23:45:40 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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