DBS Subscriber Growth Slowed

摘要

It would seem cable's triple play is starting to have a significant effect on DBS providers DIRECTV and EchoStar, resulting in the lowest Q1 net adds since 1997. If historical seasonality holds true, the satcasters are in for a rough couple of quarters of declining sub growth. Seasonally low gross ads and high churn over the next two quarters should further dampen net adds. Meanwhile, cable had one of its best quarters in years, adding record basic subs with substantial growth in digital and HSD,showing little sign of slowing.