Cable operators will report fewer subscriber losses for Q4, Miller Tabak predicts

With Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) set to kick off a series of fourth-quarter earnings reports next week for cable operators, Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce predicted Friday that MSOs will report fewer subscriber losses than expected. "We expect a loss of 341,000 (basic video subscribers) from the public and private cable operators, which is a significant improvement over the 511,000 lost in Q4 2010," Joyce said in a research note.

While cable operators are expected to continue the trend of losing basic video customers and adding high-speed Internet subscribers, the pay TV industry as a whole will likely pick up a total of 19,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter thanks to subscriber growth at DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) and Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) FiOS TV and AT&T's (NYSE: T)  U-verse TV, Joyce he said. Improving unemployment figures will help the industry grow its total subscriber base to 115 million, he said.

AT&T and Verizon are also scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings next week. He expects Verizon to report FiOS TV subscriber additions of 190,000 and for AT&T to pick up 195,000 U-verse TV subscribers during the period

Miller Tabak predicts that Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) will report losses of 60,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter, and that Time Warner Cable will report a loss of 131,000 residential video subscribers.

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