TalkTalk sees fourth consecutive fall in TV customer base

A further 31,000 TV customers quit TalkTalk in the final months of 2016, according to the firm’s latest trading update.

The low-cost broadband and TV provider has seen a steady flow of departures from what was once claimed to be the UK’s third largest pay-TV platform.

TalkTalk has posted falls in its TV base each for each of the past four quarters – the final three months of its 2016 financial year saw 17,000 customers end their subscription, followed by 23,000 in the first quarter of 2016, 33,000 the following quarter and now, in the three months to December, another fall of 31,000.

In addition to the loss of 104,000 customers, the firm has also faced claims that only “125,000” of its TV customer base actually pays a regular subscription to use the service.

Despite the continued loss of subscribers, TalkTalk insists “TV continues to be a growth area,” a claim it justified by saying “over 40% of new customers chose to take a set top box in the three months leading to 31st December.”

Last year TalkTalk rolled out a ‘next generation’ update to its YouView-based set top boxes which intended to deliver an improved user experience, however posts on customer forums suggest many customers have encountered difficulties with the new software.

Insiders at other partners within the YouView consortium suggest TalkTalk rushed to release the software before it was ready and say further development work currently underway means customers with retail boxes and those with a box from BT, which also used YouView, will get a smoother roll-out.

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