Cable cutting seems to becoming a real trend in the US, as the poorer members of society can't even afford pay TV any more, with another trend being a move to fibre providers such as AT&T and Verizon. This table from Gigaom:
It's hardly surprising that US media companies have been on buying sprees in the UK, where subscription numbers are not holding tight, but ARPU is improving. However, the losing cablecos on this list are quite parochial in their outlook with little or no overseas presence at present.
The trend bodes well for the likes of Boxee and Rovi as over the top content providers: it seems that more and more users are happy with only the content available on these platforms, perhaps combined with Netflix for occasional paid movies.
| Company | 2Q Video Net Adds/Losses |
| Comcast | -238,000 |
| Time Warner Cable | -130,000 |
| Charter | -79,000 |
| Cablevision | -23,000 |
| Dish Network | -135,000 |
| DirecTV | 26,000 |
| AT&T | 202,000 |
| Verizon | 184,000 |
| Total | -193,000 |
It's hardly surprising that US media companies have been on buying sprees in the UK, where subscription numbers are not holding tight, but ARPU is improving. However, the losing cablecos on this list are quite parochial in their outlook with little or no overseas presence at present.
The trend bodes well for the likes of Boxee and Rovi as over the top content providers: it seems that more and more users are happy with only the content available on these platforms, perhaps combined with Netflix for occasional paid movies.