NEW YORK—S&P Global Ratings has updated its U.S. pay-TV video subscriber forecast in the wake of the two largest U.S. cable companies, Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc., reporting aggregate residential video subscriber losses for the first quarter of 2023 that were significantly higher than 1Q 2022 and well ahead of S&P Global Ratings' forecast.
"We expect the rate of overall pay-TV subscriber losses in 2023 will modestly increase from 2022's 7.0% decline," said Naveen Sarma, an analyst with S&P Global Ratings. "Legacy pay-TV subscriber declines, which includes cable, telco and satellite, will likely reach 12.4%, somewhat tempered by 10.4% growth of virtual pay-TV video subscribers. Virtual subscriber growth will benefit significantly from the NFL Sunday Ticket broadcast contract moving from DirecTV to Alphabet’s YouTube TV service."
