OTTAWA – Canada’s publicly traded television service providers combined lost almost seven times more TV subscribers in the nine-month period ended August 31/September 30,2015 compared to the same period in 2014, according to new research released Monday.
Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services also found that BCE, Rogers, Shaw/Shaw Direct, Vidéotron, Cogeco, Telus, and MTS (IPTV subscribers only) combined lost a record 153,000 TV subscribers in their respective three fiscal 2015 quarters, up significantly from 22,000 lost in the same quarters in 2014.
In the three month period ended August 31/September 30 alone, which is traditionally a stronger quarter for subscriber results, the publicly traded TV service providers lost 39,000 TV subscribers, up sharply from 4,800 lost in the same period in 2014.
“The ongoing trend of the cable companies losing customers to the IPTV companies continued with the latest subscriber results,” said Boon Dog partner Mario Mota, in the news release. “Perhaps more importantly, however, are the significant structural milestones occurring in the TV service market. For example, as of September 30, Bell became the largest TV service provider in Canada, surpassing Shaw. Why is this significant? Shaw has been providing TV services for almost 50 years, while Bell began offering TV services 18 years ago.”
The report also predicts that the number of IPTV subscribers will surpass DTH satellite TV subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Even with record subscriber losses, given that roughly 11.5 million households subscribed to a traditional TV service at the end of August 31/September 30, 2015, the estimated 153,000 TV customers lost so far this year represents just 1% of the total market, Mota noted.
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.
