Verizon's FiOS TV growth slows in Q3

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) added just 131,000 new FiOS TV subscribers during the third quarter, a big drop from the 184,000 new pay TV customers it signed during Q2. The cable overbuilder said its growth was impacted by its employee strike and hurricanes, which slowed its ability to service new FiOS installs, which can take several hours for a field technician to complete.

Verizon said it added 138,000 new FiOS Internet subscribers, down from the 189,000 Internet customers it picked up during Q2. While AT&T (NYSE: T) saw a similar reduction in subscriber growth when it reported earnings Thursday, the telcos are still growing pay TV subscribers each quarter at the expense of incumbent cable MSOs such as Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and satellite providers DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) and Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH).

Other items worth noting from Verizon's Q3 earnings:

• Verizon saw its number of subscribers ordering a triple play of pay TV, high-speed Internet and telephone service jump 20 percent compared to the third quarter of 2010.
• Verizon counts 3.979 million FiOS TV subscribers, up 21 percent from this time last year. It has 4.6 million FiOS Internet subscribers, generating 18.8 percent growth in the last year.
• Verizon generated 2.1 billion in revenue from FiOS services, up 20.8 percent from the second quarter of 2010.
• The penetration rate for FiOS TV in markets where Verizon offers the service is 30.6 percent, up from 27.2 percent this time last year. Its penetration rate for FiOS Internet is 34.6 percent, up from 31 percent last year.

For more:
- See Verizon's earnings release

Earnings summary: Sizing up the cable industry in Q3 2011

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