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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AT&T, DISH Network, Verizon Communications and Comcast

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 02, 2017 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include AT&T Inc. (NYSE:(T - Free Report)  Free Report), DISH Network Corp. (Nasdaq: Free Report), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:(VZ - Free Report)  Free Report) and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:(CMCSA - Free Report)  Free Report).

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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Will U.S. Pay-TV Industry Continue Facing Distressing Times

Research firm RBC recently predicted that customer churn in the legacy pay TV segment could soon accelerate to around 5 million a year. In June 2017, research firm SNL Kagan had predicted that the U.S. pay-TV industry (consisting of cable, satellite and IPTV operators) will lose approximately 10.8 million customers by 2021. Total pay-TV subscribers will be around 82.3 million at that time, which will be 20% less than the industry’s historical high level.

In terms of customer retention, legacy pay-TV operators are yet to cope with the onslaught of low-cost online video streaming service providers. In the last 10 years, the internal dynamics of the pay-TV market have gradually shifted from legacy pay-TV offerings to low-cost over-the-top (OTT) service providers. According to SNL Kagan, in the first half of 2017, the U.S. pay-TV industry lost 1.8 million customers.

The strong presence of online video-streaming providers is posing a significant threat to the existing pay-TV business model. Video offering, which represented the core business function of cable TV operators, seems to be fast slipping out of their hands.

In order to remain competitive in the market, pay-TV operators stared offering Internet TV with selected TV channels at cheap rate. Technically, Internet TV is similar to pay-TV offerings. Its shows can be viewed using a broadband connection and mobile gadgets like tablets, smartphones, Roku box and smart TV, to name a few.

Major pay-TV operators, such as AT&T Inc. (NYSE:(T - Free Report) Free Report) and DISH Network Corp. (Nasdaq: Free Report) have already launched their Internet TV services. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:(VZ - Free Report) Free Report) and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:(CMCSA - Free Report) Free Report) are the latest entrants. Most of these companies are offering both legacy pay-TV as well as Internet TV services with selected TV channels at lower costs.

Interestingly, in June 2017, another research firm, Strategy Analytics, had estimated that major pay-TV operators, who offer both traditionally managed TV services and next-generation online services, will hold nearly 80% of the market share till 2022. They will continue to do so despite facing intensified competition from low-cost OTT service providers.

Nevertheless, pay-TV operators are yet to find out an appropriate trade-off between these two types of services. Making online ventures more attractive is resulting in more subscribers for the new services at the expense of traditional pay-TV business model. Ultimately, the cord cutting due to Internet TV is yet to stop, which is currently the biggest threat for pay-TV operators.

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Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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