Bruce Leichtman

Eighty-seven percent of US households get an Internet service at home, compared to 83% in 2016 and 69% in 2006.  Broadband accounts for 98% of households with an Internet service at home, and 85% of all households get a broadband Internet service – an increase from 81% in 2016 and 42% in 2006.

The largest cable and wireline phone providers in the US – representing about 96% of the market – have added about 15,400,000 subscribers over the past five years (compared to about 14,600,000 net adds over the prior five years). Top broadband providers added 8,000,000 subscribers over the past two years, including about 4,330,000 net adds over the past year, and about 3,670,000 net adds over the prior year. Net broadband additions in the second quarter of 2021, 890,000, were the most in any second quarter in the past decade, except for 2Q 2020.

The largest pay-TV providers in the US – representing about 95% of the market – lost about 1,895,000 net video subscribers in 1Q 2021. The top pay-TV providers now account for about 78.7 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having 43.1 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 28.9 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having about 6.7 million subscribers.

The largest cable and wireline phone providers in the US – representing about 96% of the residential broadband internet access service market – acquired about 1,020,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 1Q 2021. These top broadband providers now account for about 107 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 73.7 million broadband subscribers, and top wireline phone companies having about 33.3 million subscribers.