NEW YORK – Telecom giant Verizon said Friday that it added 184,000 FiOS TV subscribers in the second quarter, slightly more than the 174,000 it had added in the year-ago period.
The growth brought the company’s total number of FiOS pay TV customers to 3.8 million as of mid-year.
Pay TV subscriber growth will once again be in focus this earnings season as investors and industry watchers try to gauge the threat of cord cutting, or substitution of pay TV packages by online alternatives.
On Thursday, fellow telecom firm AT&T had posted a 202,000 gain in U-verse pay TV users for the latest period, compared with 209,000 in the year-ago quarter.
Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce has predicted that the pay TV industry will add 97,000 in the seasonally slow second quarter driven by telecom and satellite TV gains, partially offset by cable declines.
Research firm SNL Kagan has forecast that online video will replace pay TV in 4.5 million U.S. households, or 4 percent of total occupied homes, by year-end.
Verizon on Friday also reported the addition of 189,000 FiOS broadband subscribers, bringing its total user base to 4.5 million.
Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
