IHS: Cord Cutting on the Rise

Research house IHS Technology added to the growing evidence that cord cutting emerged as a real threat in the second quarter, releasing a study that reports that the pay TV business lost more than 658,000 subscribers in the second quarter, driven by sluggish performance in the IPTV sector. In its study -- State of the US Pay TV Operator Market – IHS said that IPTV, which includes telecommunication companies AT&T and Verizon -- reported video customer growth of less than 1 percent in the period, compared to 3 percent in the prior year. “Until the fourth quarter of 2014, IPTV had been the only pay TV category to experience growth; however, by Q2 of 2015, IPTV’s significant forward momentum had been lost,” said IHS Technology’s principal analyst of television and media Erik Brannon.