WNA

The top nine cable companies lost about 1,735,000 video subscribers in 2013, according to the latest data from Leichtman Research Group. That’s a bigger loss than the 1,410,000 fewer subscribers in 2012.

Satellite TV providers DirecTV and Dish, with a combined total of 34 million subs, added 170,000 video subscribers in 2013 — compared to 288,000 net additions in 2012.

The top IPTV providers, AT&T and Verizon, have a combined base of 10.7 million subscribers and added 1,460,000 video subscribers in 2013 — compared to 1,298,000 net additions in 2012.

The thirteen largest multi-channel video providers in the US represent about 94% of the market and 50 million subs, compared to over 100 million US subs on both AT&T and Verizon cellular services. The cable losses represent only about 0.1% of all multi-channel subscribers,” said Bruce Leichtman of Leichtman Research.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, recently said he believes Netflix’s potential American market is “60 to 90 million subscribers,” double or triple the current count in the U.S. He also thinks half of all television content will be delivered over the Internet by 2016.

Comcast, the U.S.’s largest cable company and owner of NBC Universal, hopes to take over Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable firm in a $45.2 billion deal.