More than 1 million consumers canceled their cable-TV or satellite subscriptions in the past quarter, one of the largest seasonal drops ever, stepping up pressure on pay-TV providers to generate revenue in other ways.
Old-guard companies have turned to streaming services and partnerships with digital video startups to stanch the loss of pay-TV subscribers. Yet figures reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that those tactics have failed to offset the erosion of what used to be one of the entertainment industry’s most profitable businesses.
Fiber-optic broadband services like Verizon Communications Inc.’s VZ 0.68% Fios and AT&T Inc.’s U-verse have shed pay-TV customers most quickly in recent years, though they had a smaller subscriber base from the start....