Traditional/Streaming Live TV Providers Losses, 1st Quarter 2026 Edition

[Bruce]

It begins again for the new year-

Comcast lost 322,000 TV Subscribers, also lost 65,000 broadband internet customers.

Comcast beats revenue, earnings expectations as broadband losses improve

Comcast’s first-quarter earnings were lifted by NBC’s sports slate in February as well as fewer broadband customer losses than prior quarters.

www.cnbc.com

 

[navychop]

Wipe that grin off your face!

 

[Bruce]

Charter/Spectrum lost 51,000 TV Subscribers, along with 120,000 internet customers that left in the 1st quarter.

Charter Loses 51,000 Pay TV Subscribers in First Quarter

The cable and internet giant has used new packaging and pricing efforts to better retain residential video subscribers amid competition from YouTube and streaming rivals.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[dishdude]

The internet subscriber loss has to really hurt. 5G is eating the cable co's lunch.

 

[Bruce]

The internet subscriber loss has to really hurt. 5G is eating the cable co's lunch.

Fiber also, back at the old house in Kissimmee, had Spectrum, Quantum Fiber (A'T&T) wired the whole town, I switched about a year before I decided to move.

Here in Lakeland, Charter was the big deal, Frontier (Verizon) wired the whole town here, finished a few months before I bought this house.

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[ncted]

Fiber also, back at the old house in Kissimmee, had Spectrum, Quantum Fiber (A'T&T) wired the whole town, I switched about a year before I decided to move.

Here in Lakeland, Charter was the big deal, Frontier (Verizon) wired the whole town here, finished a few months before I bought this house.

Yeah. It is funny how the people I know who switched to 5G to save money sign up for Fiber as soon as it is available. Of course, the promotions AT&T is running are helping. I am paying $35/month for AT&T fiber for the next two years. It is only 300Mb, but it is more than my wife and I need, and it is symmetrical, low-latency, and very consistent, which is more than can be said for Spectrum or 5G options.

 

[brice52]

Yeah. It is funny how the people I know who switched to 5G to save money sign up for Fiber as soon as it is available. Of course, the promotions AT&T is running are helping. I am paying $35/month for AT&T fiber for the next two years. It is only 300Mb, but it is more than my wife and I need, and it is symmetrical, low-latency, and very consistent, which is more than can be said for Spectrum or 5G options.

My Isp use to have 300 500 and 1 gig now just 500 or 1 gig
my Isp FOCUS Broadband | Internet, Video, Voice & Security - Eastern NC

 

[navychop]

Side Note: I subscribe to MyEntertainment from DTV. I noticed in a discussion with SWMBO that our Roku says DIRECTV on several screens but never MyEntertainment.

Velly Intellesting. Hope this does not mean they are not long for this world.

 

[b4pjoe]

Side Note: I subscribe to MyEntertainment from DTV. I noticed in a discussion with SWMBO that our Roku says DIRECTV on several screens but never MyEntertainment.

Velly Intellesting. Hope this does not mean they are not long for this world.

MyEntertainment is just the name of the Genre Pack that you subscribed to but the service name is just DIRECTV. You should be able to see the "MyEntertainment" name is your subscription settings.

 

[Bruce]

This is a wow number, Hulu Live/Fubo ( they are a combined company now) lost 500,000 subscribers, with that , 873,000 have left paid Live TV this quarter so far.

A side note, Disney+ and Paramount+ just reported huge gains and are both profitable now.

Paramount+ now has more subscribers then all of paid live TV ( streaming and Traditional) combined.

Fubo Lost Over 500,000 Subscribers in North America In The 2nd Quarter of 2026 | Cord Cutters News

FuboTV Inc. experienced a sequential drop in its North American subscriber base during the second quarter of its fiscal year 2026, which ended on March 31, 2026. The company reported 5.7 million total and paid subscribers in the region, down from 6.2 million in the first quarter. This represents...

cordcuttersnews.com

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[dishdude]

This is a wow number, Hulu Live/Fubo ( they are a combined company now) lost 500,000 subscribers, with that , 873,000 have left paid Live TV this quarter so far.

Not surprised, the content on live TV SUCKS. If you already know how to stream, you can get the same reruns on Pluto for FREE. Their live TV plans aren't competitive.

 

[Bruce]

Not surprised, the content on live TV SUCKS. If you already know how to stream, you can get the same reruns on Pluto for FREE. Their live TV plans aren't competitive.

Not to be rude, why do you pay for Dish still?

If just for Live News, there are plenty of options online, CBS, NBC and ABC all provide 24 hour News, along with CNN and Fox Headlines on Pluto ( and other apps).

Or, CNN provides their channel as a subscription service, only $42 a year-

https://www.cnn.com/subscription?source=sub_web_nav&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

I have that, along with Bloomberg (free) for business/finance news.

 

[Bruce]

Altice ( former Cablevision) lost 57,000 Video subscribers ( a total of 1.57M left) and did this-

US cable operator Optimum reported a net loss of nearly USD 2.9 billion for the first quarter after writing down the value of its cable franchises by USD 2.7 billion.

Optimum records USD 2.9 bln loss for Q1 after writing down cable franchises

US cable operator Optimum reported a net loss of nearly USD 2.9 billion for the first quarter after writing down the value of its cable franchises by USD 2.7 billion. That compares to a net loss of around USD 76 million in the same period in 2025. Optimum, the former Altice USA, said revenues...

www.telecompaper.com

930,000 have left this quarter, with just four companies reporting so far, more to come.

 

[Bruce]

Dish/Sling lost 366,000.

Now at 1,296,000 lost this quarter.

Expect the losses to increase this year, with inflation, gas prices, etc going up, people will cut costs on things they do not believe are worth it.

Thanks to streaming services being less expensive, especially the with commercials versions, those services should see an increase in subscribers.

 

[MikeD-C05]

So this whole Iran war thing might end up doing in DISH /Sling much quicker than they thought. People will be dropping anything they can do without, since is costing them extra money that could go to gas or groceries.

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[navychop]

costing them extra money that could go to electrons or groceries.

FIFY

 

[Bruce]

Thanks to Fitch Ratings, have DirecTV numbers, looks like they lost about 200,000.

So a total of 1,496,000 gone this quarter so far.

DIRECTV's video subscriber base is the third-largest traditional multi-channel video programming distributor (MVPD) in the U.S. with about 8.2 million subscribers at the end of 1Q26.

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-rates-directv-proposed-senior-secured-debt-offering-bb-rr2-11-05-2026