US USA Pay-TV Providers Lose 50K Subs in Q3

The top 13 U.S. pay-TV operators, representing about 94 percent of the market, lost about 53,500 net video subscribers in the third quarter, versus a net gain of about 17,000 in the year-ago quarter, Leichtman Research Group Inc. (LRG) reported in its latest market analysis. Cable, as usual, took it the hardest, with the top nine MSOs losing a combined 420,000, though improved from a loss of 505,000 a year earlier. The top telcos added 317,000, versus 307,000 net additions in the third quarter of 2011. Satellite TV growth slowed significantly, as DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE:DTV) and Dish Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) added a combined 48,000 video subs in the quarter, off from a gain of 216,000 in the year-ago period. "With a fairly saturated market, the multi-channel video industry was essentially flat in the third quarter of 2012," LRG's Bruce Leichtman said in a statement summing up the period