Pay TV Subscribers to Increase (Just Barely) in 2014

The rapid emergence of over-the-top (OTT) and Internet TV alternatives, as well as cloud services, has posed stiff challenges for US pay-TV service providers in recent years.

Having experienced a 0.58% decline in subscriber numbers in 2013, the pay-TV subscriber base will grow in 2014, albeit at a tepid pace, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Pay-TV subscriber numbers will increase 0.14% in 2014, Strategy Analytics forecasts in its “North America Digital Television Forecast: 1Q 2014.” IPTV “will be the bright spot” in the pay-TV market, with subscriptions rising 17.5% year-over-year. The growth will continue, the market research company continues, with US pay-TV’s IPTV subscriber numbers increasing at an 8.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019.

The two leading US IPTV providers -- AT&T and Verizon -- “are approaching the future with different strategies, but both are focused on driving advanced services and multiplay bundles with digital television and high-speed Internet at the core of their packages,” Strategy Analytics notes. Turning to cable pay-TV providers, the rollout of the Xfinity X1 platform has reversed a downtrend in Comcast’s subscriber base.