TV cord cutting hit record in 2016: Report
TORONTO — A record numbers of viewers cancelled their subscriptions to Canada’s publicly traded TV providers last year, according to data from an Ottawabased research firm.
Approximately 202,000 TV subscribers cut their cable and satellite packages from seven of the largest providers in 2016, Boon Dog Professional Services reported this week.
Traditional cable companies lost fewer subscribers than expected this year, but cord cutting still rose because Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) products offered by their telco competitors didn’t grow fast enough to slow the overall decline, Boon Dog partner Mario Mota noted.
“In past years strong IPTV subscriber growth largely offset subscriber declines by the cable and satellite TV companies, but with IPTV slowing considerably in 2016 we saw the overall TV subscriber loss in Canada accelerate to a new record level,” Mota said in a statement.
IPTV providers added three times more subscribers in 2015 than in 2016, he added, blaming heightened competition from cable companies in part for the slowdown.
These numbers reflect financial results from the five biggest TV providers — BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. control about 82 per cent of the market — and smaller players Cogeco Communications Inc. and Manitoba Telecom Services.
Shaw lost the most subscribers, ending the year down more than 130,000 cable and satellite subscribers in its consumer and business divisions. Shaw’s year ends Nov. 30, whereas the other big players use Dec. 31 as their yearend date. Rogers lost the secondmost TV subscribers (76,000) with Quebecor third (46,000). Telus gained 54,000 TV customers and Bell about 6,400.
Cable companies are launching their own IPTV products to compete with the telcos’ superior offerings. Shaw launched an IPTV service using Comcast’s X1 platform, and Rogers announced plans to launch the same platform in 2018. Quebecor has yet to select a partner for an IPTV service, but expects to announce one shortly.
Meanwhile, Amazon.com Inc. entered Canada’s video streaming market in December with the launch of Amazon Prime Video. Original content on American over-the-top platforms such as Amazon and Netflix Inc. is considered a major draw for consumers who find they require fewer traditional TV channels.
Bell and Videotron both reported success in attracting subscribers to their video streaming services CraveTV and Club Illico, respectively, but Shaw and Rogers closed the curtain on their joint venture Shomi, blaming an inability to compete with the likes of Netflix.
In response to streaming ’s popularity, Canada’s federal broadcast regulator attempted to give television consumers more choice last year by mandating the introduction of so-called $25 skinny basic TV packages. But uptake of the smaller packages has been limited.