However, it's likely just temporary
OTTAWA – While Canada’s publicly traded television service providers lost almost 20% fewer TV subscribers in 2017 versus 2016, this is likely a temporary positive turn in a long road of permanent TV subscriber declines in the future, according to new research released Wednesday.
Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services found that BCE, Rogers, Shaw, Vidéotron, Cogeco, and Telus combined lost approximately 166,000 in their respective 2017 fiscal years, down from an estimated 205,000 lost in the previous year.
Boon Dog partner Mario Mota credited the improved cord-cutting numbers for 2017 to the launch of Shaw's BlueSky TV service.
“However, Shaw’s improved subscriber performance was not consistent throughout the year as it lost more subscribers in its fourth quarter than it did in the same period a year earlier, and it still lost subscribers overall in its fiscal year”, Mota added in the report’s news release. “This is consistent with Comcast’s own experience with its X1 platform. While its launch initially provided a boost in TV subscriber performance – an increase in subscribers of 103,000 in 2016, its first in 10 years – the bubble burst in 2017 as it lost 186,000 TV subscribers. Given what we’ve seen to date, we believe the X1 platform will not be an elixir for cord-cutting in Canada."
Boon Dog estimates that roughly 11.2 million households subscribed to a traditional TV service at the end of 2017, which means the 166,000 customers lost last year represents about 2% of the total market. However, the traditional TV service providers are losing pace with household growth in the country and therefore TV subscription penetration is declining at a greater level than simply the cord-cutting numbers suggest.
A full analysis of the latest TV subscriber metrics and subscriber forecasts will be published in the next report in Boon Dog’s Canadian Digital TV Market Monitor research series.
