Live cable TV providers have hada hard 2023 so far, according to a report from the Leichtman Research Group, which follows the Broadband, Media, and Entertainment Industries. According to a recent report looking at major pay-TV providers, DIRECTV lost 750,000 subscribers in the first half of 2023. This works out to be over 4,100 customers canceling DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, or U-verse TV every single day.
DIRECTV is not alone in struggling with subscriber losses, as all major cable TV companies reported losing TV subscribers in the first half of 2023. This includes Comcast losing over 1.15 million and Spectrum losing over 441,000.
Recently DIRECTV has been fighting with Nexstar over fees to air their networks. This has resulted in 159 Nexstar-owned local TV stations going dark on DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-Verse. NewsNation and The CW have also gone dark on DIRECTV. This fight though started after these numbers happened. This fight could help continue to push DIRECTV’s numbers down.
DIRECTV is now an independent private company but is still majority owned by AT&T. Because of that, they no longer report numbers, and this 7500,000 number is based on the Leichtman Research Group’s estimate. Cord Cutters News has reached out to DIRECTV for comment and will update our story as we learn more.
The question now is what will happen this fall. Sports is finally back and that often helps keep subscribers but the writers and actors strike means there will not be as many new programs this fall. For now we will have to see how this plays out in the 3rd quarter of 2023.
As inflation grows and Americans struggle with bills increasingly they seem to be turning to cheaper on-demand options for their TV services.