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Has Cable Hit Rock Bottom?

Amazingly, cable just posted its first quarterly sub growth since 2017, thanks to YouTube TV and Hulu+Live TV and the rise of sports-centric skinny bundles. Is it too much to call it a comeback?

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Canelo v Crawford
Now though, the leagues are leaning into streaming just like everyone else, and sports are really working. The Canelo vs. Crawford fight on Netflix drove just over 238,000 signups in the U.S. in September, according to Antenna. (Wednesday, for its part, drove 79,000). Photo: Steve Marcus/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
December 16, 2025

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You may have already heard the good news: Cable—yes, that cable—just recorded its first quarter of net subscriber growth since late 2017. Net subs actually rose by more than 300,000 in the third quarter, driven almost exclusively by virtual doppelgängers like YouTube TV, according to analysis from MoffettNathanson. More specifically, the surge was likely due to a flurry of skinny bundle signups going into the fall sports season: college football, the NFL, hockey, basketball. But when you consider that more than 1 million customers canceled their cable service in the previous quarter, and close to 2.5 million canceled in Q1, the net gain is, well, something.

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