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Archive for the 'subscribers' Tag

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AT&T U-verse hits 2 million users today, no O.C. updates

December 9th, 2009, 3:26 pm by

AT&T U-verseNoted: AT&T U-verse service expects to sign up its 2 millionth customer today.

That means the company, which launched its alternative TV service in Orange County in 2007, has doubled the number of subscribers this year.

U-verse is still one of the smaller TV services available nationwide. Verizon FiOS, another Internet-based TV service, had 2.7 million by the end of September. Time Warner Cable has about 13 million customers while DirecTV has 18 million.

Currently in Orange County, U-verse is available in parts of Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

Earlier this year, AT&T halted expansion in 7 cities in Orange County because of difficulties getting permits approved. A spokesperson from AT&T confirmed today that there are no updates on the U-verse status of these cities. Read the original series: “The AT&T U-verse impasse in O.C.”

Recent U-verse stories:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • | 2 Comments »

Dish adds 241,000 subscribers, makes less money off customers

November 9th, 2009, 3:00 pm by

Dish Network logoSatellite TV service is on a roll: Number two Dish Network said this morning that it signed up more customers despite the economy.

The company added 241,000 net new subscribers in the three months, ended Sept. 30. That’s much better than last year when Dish lost 10,000 customers.

Satellite rival DirecTV also added customers, while cable providers Time Warner Cable and Comcast both reported losing customers. Cox Cable is privately held and does not report its results. Internet-based TV providers Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse both saw increases.

One reason is price. A look at Dish Network’s current “Best Deal” offers first-time customers 100+ channels for $24.99 a month with a 1-year commitment (regular price is $39.99/month). (Time Warner Cable’s standard rate for digital cable’s 200+ channels is $42, though a 2-year commitment can push the price lower.)

Such discounts pushed Dish’s expenses 5.8 percent higher than last year, up $89 million to $1.623 billion, according to the company’s regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

TV service 3Q new subscribers
AT&T U-verse 240,000
Comcast -656,000
Cox n/a
DirecTV 136,000
Dish Network 241,000
Time Warner Cable -84,000
Verizon FiOS 191,000

Part of that higher expense also went to higher programming fees, which the TV channels charge on a per-subscriber basis.

All of this ultimately meant that Dish made a little less money per customer than last year. Dish’s average revenue per customer declined to $69.51, compared to $69.82 in third quarter last year.

But if you’re a customer and you feel like you’re paying more, you are. The decline was offset by price increases in Feb. 2009.

Overall, Dish made less money than third quarter last year. The Englewood, Colo. company said it made $81 million on $2.89 billion in revenues, down from last year’s income of $92 million on $2.94 billion.

Dish ended the quarter with 13.851 million subscribers, which is nearly 1 million more than Time Warner Cable.

Recent telecom company earnings reports:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

DirecTV gets bigger, charges more

November 5th, 2009, 5:24 pm by

DirecTV DirecTV must be doing something right — it made more money than last year and continued to add new subscribers during its third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

The El Segundo satellite TV service added 136,000 net new subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total to 18.4 million customers. While the subscriber growth is lower than the same time last year, DirecTV is growing.

Comparably, both the number one and two cable companies saw their subscriber count drop during the same period. Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, lost 656,000 video customers during the quarter, while second-place Time Warner Cable lost 84,000 customers.

DirecTV’s interim chief executive Larry Hunter attributed the subscriber growth to marketing its service with AT&T. Sales growth — revenues were up 10 percent from a year ago to $5.47 billion — came from more people subscribing to its HD and DVR services, plus growth in Latin America.

But consumers should keep in mind that DirecTV’s sales growth also meant higher prices. The company said the average customer’s bill increased 2.1 percent to $85.32. Customers are paying more for programs, HD channels and DVR service fees. Then again, DirecTV is the only company that offers programming like NFL Sunday Ticket, a $200 package.

Meanwhile, DirecTV’s payment to TV networks in order to offer channels increased 1.2 percent per subscriber. DirecTV spent nearly $2 billion on programming costs.

Read DirecTV’s third-quarter 2009 earnings report HERE.

Earlier on DirecTV:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Time Warner loses 84,000 customers, makes less money

November 5th, 2009, 7:53 am by

Time Warner Cable signIt was another rough quarter for Time Warner Cable, which lost TV customers, posted lower profits and saw a drop in premium channel subscriptions. It lost 84,000 video customers by the end of the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, compared with the second quarter.

But in almost all other areas, the cable TV provider grew: It added more Internet and phone customers, more digital cable customers and more multi-package customers. That helped offset the exodus of video subscribers to a loss of 25,000 customers. Overall sales were up 4 percent, to $4.5 billion, compared with $4.3 billion last year.

The company has been losing video customers as new TV services like Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse enter the market and customers head for the Web to view TV shows on their own time.

2Q 2008 3Q 2008 4Q 2008 1Q 2009 2Q 2009 3Q 2009
TW video
subscribers		 13,297k 13,266k 13,069k 13,105k 13,048k 12,964k
Change -31,000 -197,000 36,000 -57,000 -84,000

While the number of customers fell less than 1 percent, to 14.652 million subscribers, Time Warner got a bit more money from each one. Subscription revenues grew 5 percent, to $4.3 billion, thanks to more digital video, Internet and phone customers. Separating out video alone, Time Warner made 2 percent more off TV subscribers, coming in at $2.698 billion in the third quarter, compared with $2.639 billion a year earlier.

Still, Time Warner made less money than it did a year ago. Net income fell 11 percent, to $258 million, compared with $301 million a year earlier. Part of that was because it had to pay more for the TV channels it offers customers. The cost of video programming grew 6 percent, to $1 billion. In the first 9 months this year, Time Warner spent a whopping $3 billion in programming fees, up 7 percent from last year (see its quarterly filing, page 8).

Meanwhile, more customers dropped basic video and premium channel subscriptions.

In the chart below, Time Warner notes that about 13 million pay for plain-ol’ cable TV service. About two-thirds also pay for digital cable and high-speed Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 55 Comments »

Verizon FiOS TV losing steam? Growth rate slips

October 26th, 2009, 12:40 pm by

Update: Added several East Coast states that got FiOS in recent months. See addendum below.
—————————-

Verizon FiOS signVerizon’s FiOS TV service continues to grow, but not quite as fast as it used to.

From July to September, 191,000 people signed up to get TV service from Verizon FiOS, bringing the number of subscribers to the cable TV alternative to 2.7 million nationwide, according to the company’s third-quarter financial report this morning.

But 191,000 is about a 33 percent decline from the most recent quarter. Even compared to Verizon’s year-ago quarter, the number is lower. The last time Verizon’s net new customers didn’t break the 200,000 mark was in the second quarter of 2008.  Is Verizon’s FiOS TV service losing steam?

The growth rate decline was a big letdown. Sanford Bernstein, and analyst with Craig Moffett, called the drop in FiOS growth rates a “clear disappointment,” according to the Associated Press report. Wall Street had expected growth of 253,000 net new customers.

By comparison, AT&T said last week that its U-verse TV service added 240,000 customers during the quarter. Both U-verse and FiOS are offering TV services to compete with local cable companies.

Here’s a comparison chart of the growth of FiOS TV:

Verizon FiOS TV 3Q07 4Q07 1Q08 2Q08 3Q08 Q408
New 202,000 226,000 263,000 176,000 233,000 303,000
Total (in millions) 0.7 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.9

2009:

1Q09 2Q09 3Q09
299,000 300,000 191,000
2.2 2.5 2.7

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Internet • Video & TV • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

AT&T adds 240k U-verse customers, millions of iPhone users

October 22nd, 2009, 12:33 pm by

AT&TAT&T offered another update on the health of its U-verse TV and Internet service in this morning’s quarterly earnings report. It’s still growing!

The company added 240,000 net new TV customers, which brings the number of U-verse subscribers to 1.8 million nationwide. That’s up 1 million customers from the same time last year.

More than three-fourths of U-verse TV subscribers also purchase Internet, home phone or wireless phone service from AT&T. See the chart on the lower right for the growth of U-verse customers in the past year.

U-verse is offered in several Orange County cities. But as many residents know, that doesn’t mean you can order service. In some cities, the company has been unable to get permits to place large utility boxes in neighborhoods. For more details, see my earlier series of stories about AT&T’s struggles in seven Orange County cities – Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin.

AT&T's U-verse subscriber growth, third quarter 2009Still, in the 225 cities where service is available, 20 million households nationwide can order service. With around 1.8 million paying customers, the U-verse penetration is approximately 12 percent. In California, U-verse is available to 3 million homes and businesses.

Combined with customers who order satellite TV service, AT&T had 4 million video customers.

As for high-speed U-verse Internet, AT&T added 252,000 net new subscribers during the third quarter. That helped the loss of at least 162,000 DSL customers. Combining its U-verse, DSL and 3G wireless Internet customers, AT&T had 17.1 million broadband customers by the end of the quarter, up 138,000 customers during the quarter.

For those keeping track of Apple iPhone users, AT&T activated a whopping 3.2 million iPhones during the quarter. About 40 percent of the iPhone activations were customers new to AT&T. Overall, the company added 2 million wireless subscribers. While this makes it AT&T’s best third-quarter in five years, the company apparently lost a big chunk of customers. Still, AT&T ended the quarter with 81.6 million wireless customers.

The company made $3.2 billion (attributed to AT&T operations) on $30.9 billion in revenues. That was about the same as third-quarter last year, when AT&T made $3.2 billion on revenues of $31.3 billion.

More earnings news:

Posted in: iPhone • Video & TV • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

AT&T U-verse TV available to 3 million California homes

October 21st, 2009, 9:12 am by

AT&T U-verse

Thanks everyone who left a comment about AT&T U-verse availability in your neighborhood. I’m going to update my map. Stay tuned for a link… For everyone else, please continue to let me know by commenting below if you can order U-verse.
————————–

Slowly but surely, AT&T’s TV service called U-verse is popping up in cities across the state. The company says the service, an alternative to cable TV, is now available to 3 million homes in California.

Service, however, is not available to everyone living in the 225 cities and counties where U-verse is offered statewide. This is because AT&T relies on local city governments to allow facility upgrades within neighborhoods and not all cities have obliged, saying they don’t want more ugly boxes decorating city streets.

In Orange County, U-verse is available in certain parts of  Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

Originally, AT&T had targeted more cities but dropped its pursuit after running into roadblocks with the cities. Those cities include Irvine, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin. (See earlier coverage on the slowdown in Orange County on this page: “The AT&T U-verse impasse in O.C.”

Question of the day: Can you order AT&T U-verse TV at your house? Help me track the service and tell me where you are by leaving a comment below. Leaving your zip code would be informative. Thanks!

But as part of this week’s announcement, the company says it invested nearly $7.9 billion in wireless and wireline (which includes U-verse) networks in the state between 2006 and 2008. It even quotes Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, who applauds AT&T’s move:

“I have always believed that choice and competition in the marketplace benefits consumers,” said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. “AT&T’s commitment to deliver a choice for video and high-speed Internet to the residents of Anaheim, and to hundreds of other cities across the state, has only reinforced this belief. Consumers win when businesses compete.”

There’s no mention of how many of those 3 million potential customers actually subscribe. Those numbers could possibly come out Thursday during the company’s next earnings report.

At last count, AT&T U-verse’s TV service had 1.6 million subscribers nationwide in June (see earlier: “AT&T’s U-verse TV jumps to 1.6 million subscribers“). Comparably, Verizon FiOS, another new cable TV alternative, had 2.5 million customers. Both services continue to grow while cable TV companies reported a decline in subscribers.

Recent TV service news:


Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • | 54 Comments »

Hulu.com more popular than Time Warner Cable?

August 31st, 2009, 7:36 am by

Hulu.com logoSpotted: Hulu.com reached an all-time high last month attracting 38.1 million unique visitors, according to Web traffic analyst comScore Inc. That probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who has been sucked into the site, which offers free viewing of TV shows and movies. Average visitors spent 1 hour and 13 minutes each visit, watching 12 videos.

Silicon Alley Insider compared the new numbers to the video subscribers of cable TV companies. Guess who has fewer subscribers? Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second -largest cable provider with 34 million customers. Writes Silicon Alley Insider:

What does this mean? Not much, yet. Obviously, cable companies are still bringing in vastly more revenue than Hulu, and remain more important to the networks whose shows appear on either platform.

But Hulu is increasingly making a strong case that it could be the video platform for the future — if it can ever create nearly as much revenue for content producers as cable companies do today.

Silicon Alley Insider also noted that Comcast and DirecTV have more subscribers than Time Warner.

Fast Company chimes in, noting that Hulu’s big hurdle is getting advertising. At 12 shows within 73 minutes, that’s 12 six-minute shows. Hulu doesn’t appear to have viewers loyal enough to the same TV shows to support the historic advertising model of the TV world, concludes Fast Company.

And since millions of repeat viewers is the meat and drink of advertising companies, it means the majority of ad revenue is going to go where that audience still is — which rules out Hulu. For the time being at least. Since the service is obviously on a rising curve, it really might not be long before viewers use Hulu as an alternative for at least some of their TV viewing, and as soon as the statistics support that you can be sure the ad people will start to pay attention. Then Hulu really could be more important than TWC.

Whether or not Hulu is bigger or getting bigger than Time Warner is obviously a concern to the company. That’s why it introduced TV Everywhere, with plans to offer the same TV shows online to paying cable customers.

Hulu’s 38 million unique viewers could be extrapolated to may a couple of million of avid users who return to the site daily. There’s no way to really tell. But for Time Warner, whether subscribers watch TV or not, the cable company is making money off them.

Is Hulu more popular than Time Warner? Definitely, in a team spirit kind of way. I know readers of this blog like to complain about their cable company but it seems like it will take more than Hulu as is to get them to actually drop paid TV.

More TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

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