Traditional pay TV providers lose 4.7 million subscribers in 2021

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The largest pay TV providers lost just shy of 4.7 million subscribers in 2021, according to new data from Leichtman Research Group, which was less than the previous year.

LRG looked at pay TV providers including Comcast, Charter, Cox and Mediacom that, when combined, represent over 93% of the market and found they lost 4.69 million subscribers in 2021, leaving them with a total of 76.1 million subscribers.

That 4.69 million loss was less than the 4.87 million lost in 2020.

However, the top cable providers had a net loss of about 2.695 million video subscribers in 2021 — a huge increase over the 1.94 million lost in 2020.

Other traditional pay TV services had a net loss of about 2.89 million subscribers in 2021, which was down from 3.845 million cancellations in 2020.

On the other hand, the top publicly reporting publicly reporting internet delivered pay TV providers that includes Hulu + Live TV, Sling and fuboTV, added about 895,000 subscribers in 2021, compared to a gain of about 915,000 subscribers in 2020.

These signups are likely at least partially responsible for a hike in broadband subscribers.

Traditional pay TV services (not including vMVPD) had a net loss of about 5.585 million subscribers in 2021 compared to net loss of about 5.785 million in 2020.