US sees pay TV losses slow in second quarter

US pay TV service providers together lost 366,000 subscribers in the second quarter of this year, an 11% improvement on the loss posted for the same period a year ago, according to SNL Kagan.

The research group said that combined cable, telco and satellite subscribers numbers remained 200,000 below the figure for the second quarter of 2012, although the total is 121,000 up on the figure for 2011.

Cable increased its rate of attrition compared with the first quarter, losing 607,000 customers. However this was a slight improvement on a year ago, according to SNL Kagan. Cable’s share of combined subscribers has dropped to 55.3%, according to the research group.

DTH operators lost 162,000 subscribers in the quarter while IPTV service providers gained 400,000, taking its total to about 10.7 million.