2015 was a year of unparalleled transition for US pay-TV. AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV catapulted the communications company to the front of the pack with a combined subscriber base of            million, reaching nearly a quarter of US households. Meanwhile regulators blocked Comcast’s year long bid for Time Warner, enabling rival Charter Communications to move in on the newly vulnerable target. At the same time Altice firmly established itself in the US top ten with its purchase of a majority stake in Suddenlink Communications, followed in September by the acquisition of Cablevision.

Companies mentioned in this report:  Amazon Prime, Altice, AT&T U-verse, Bright House, Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, DirecTV, Discovery Communications, Dish Network, Disney, ESPN, Hulu, Mediacom, Netflix, New Corp, Sling, Suddenlink, Verizon FIOS