MONTEREY, Calif., May 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Traditional multichannel defections picked up speed in the first quarter with an estimated loss of 802,000 subscriptions, according to Kagan, a group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. The 0.8% decline in a single quarter occurred in the historically strong first three months of the year.

The impact of new streaming options suggests an important component of the loss comes from a shift in platforms within the familiar subscription construct rather than outright cord cutting. The estimated total traditional multichannel subscriptions fell to 97.0 million in the first quarter. Adding estimated subscribers from virtual services including Sling TV, DirecTV Now and Playstation Vue, lifts the combined total subscriptions to a package of live linear channels and on-demand content to 99.2 million.

Additional takeaways from Kagan's 1(st)-quarter U.S. Multichannel Subscriber report: 


    --  Cable operators lost 188,000 total video customers. It was a smaller
        loss than posted by Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and
        telecommunications (telco) competitors, but it was cable's worst
        first-quarter performance since 2013.
    --  The DBS segment stumbled in Q1 after full-year gains in 2016. The two
        providers, which both have launched virtual service provider (VSP)
        alternatives, lost a combined 291,000 subscribers in the quarter.
    --  The telcos lost further ground behind several prominent retreats from
        the multichannel business. Combined, the telcos lost 324,000 subscribers
        in the first three months of the year.
    --  The combined residential subscriptions for cable, DBS and telco services
        accounted for 76.7% of the potential residential universe, using figures
        compiled from U.S. Census reports.

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SOURCE S&P Global Market Intelligence