2023 is continuing to see strong growth when it comes to cord cutting. In just three months, Comcast and Spectrum lost a combined 743,000 TV customers. That works out to be just over 8,164 subscribers canceling cable TV every single day. This all comes as cord cutting now accounts for about 50% of all American households.
According to Comcast, it lost 543,000 video customers during the second quarter of 2023. That works out to almost 6,000 Subscribers Every Day. The company lost 19,000 broadband customers for the quarter. Comcast now has 32 million total broadband customers. Revenue from domestic broadband was up 4.4% in the 2nd quarter.
To help offset these losses, Comcast also reported adding 315,000 wireless customers.
Peacock did see subscribers up more than 2 million in the 2nd quarter, with 24 million subscribers. Peacock Revenue increased to $820 Million.
Last week we learned that Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, has once again lost 200,000 TV customers in the 2nd quarter of 2023. Spectrum also reported that they lost over 221,000 voice customers as many Americans turned away from traditional phone lines and TV services. Spectrum did add 77,000 internet customers during that time for both residential and business customers.
To help offset slow internet growth and declining TV subscribers, Spectrum did add 648,000 wireless customers in the 2nd quarter of 2023.
Spectrum also reconfirmed its plans to expand its internet service by offering 25+ Gig internet just at a time when most internet companies are talking about reaching 10 Gig internet. This all comes from Spectrum’s earnings presentation that shows Spectrum will start building out its 25+ Gig internet service in 2024.
There are still many large cable companies and satellite companies like DISH to report their 2nd quarter numbers. The total losses could easily top 1 million TV subscribers in just three months.
The question now is what will we see from many live TV streaming services. In the 1st quarter of 2023, only YouTube TV saw growth as many cord cutters skipped live TV services in favor of cheaper on-demand services. Will that trend continue in the 2nd quarter of 2023? We will have to wait and see.