• by Wayne Friedman , January 7, 2019

Signalling a growing change in the worldwide consumption of TV, global pay TV providers -- cable, satellite, and telcos -- fell in the third quarter of 2018. It is the first time worldwide numbers have fallen, according to one estimates.

Looking at the top 100 leading TV providers, U.K.-based informitv, a TV/video researcher, says its Multiscreen Index shows a small 0.02% decline -- 110,000 subscribers -- versus the same period a year ago.

Only 43 of 100 TV services showed gains.

For the first time, subscribers fell in Europe, Middle East and Africa region -- down 310,000.

Previously, there had been 1% growth during recent third-quarter periods. The research company says the third quarter tends to be weaker than other periods.

In the U.S., traditional pay TV continues to record declines. The top 10 services in the U.S. lost 877,000 subscribers -- now totaling 82.72 million. The biggest: Comcast Corp. now has 20.98 million subscribers; DirecTV is at 19.63 million, according to the index.

Overall, there were declines of just over 1 million subscribers across North, Central and South America.

The Asia-Pacific region remains healthy, with a gain of 1.22 million during the period. One strong example was in India, where Dish TV added 200,000 more subscribers, to total 23.5 million.

Examining key industry segments, global cable providers lost 220,000. Satellite was down 900,000, while telco added 920,000 and online TV providers were up 90,000.

The Multiscreen Index surveys 100 top multichannel television and video services in 38 countries, accounting for an estimated 430 million subscribing homes worldwide.