Spectrum keeps losing customers on both sides of its business.
Its parent company, Charter, shed about 60,000 video subscribers and 120,000 internet customers in the first quarter of 2026, on top of losing more than 284,000 TV customers and over 400,000 internet customers across 2025. The video decline is the long-running cord-cutting story, but the internet losses are the newer and more alarming one, a shift the industry has started calling Cord Cutting 2.0.
For years the assumption was that cable companies could lose TV customers as long as they kept the far more profitable broadband business. That assumption is now in question, and it is reshaping how Spectrum competes.
The Numbers
The trend is consistent across recent quarters: steady video losses, and now internet losses too, even as Spectrum leans on mobile to offset the damage.
| Period | Video (TV) change | Internet change |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | Down about 60,000 | Down about 120,000 |
| Full year 2025 | Down more than 284,000 | Down more than 400,000 |
| Q1 2025 (year earlier) | Down about 181,000 | For comparison |
Spectrum still has roughly 12.5 million video customers, so this is erosion rather than collapse. The Q1 2026 video loss of 60,000 was actually an improvement over the 181,000 lost a year earlier, which the company points to as progress. The harder number is broadband, where losses are mounting in a business that was supposed to be untouchable.
Why Spectrum Is Losing TV Customers
The TV side is the familiar cord-cutting story, accelerated. Cable bundles keep getting more expensive as programming and retransmission fees rise, while streaming gives viewers cheaper, more flexible ways to watch the same content. Each price increase pushes more customers to ask why they are paying for a bloated channel package they barely use, and live-TV streaming services now replicate most of what cable offered. When the value gap widens, people leave, and they have more credible alternatives than ever.
Spectrum has tried to fight this by bundling streaming apps into its TV plans, including ad-supported tiers of services like Disney+ and Max, an attempt to make the cable package feel like a better deal. It briefly worked, with a small subscriber bump in late 2025, but the losses resumed.
Cord Cutting 2.0: Now the Internet Goes Too
The newer and more consequential trend is on broadband. For a decade, cable companies treated internet as the safe, high-margin core of the business that justified everything else. That safety is eroding as customers cancel cable internet in favor of alternatives: fiber networks expanding into cable territory, and fixed wireless home internet from mobile carriers that is cheaper and good enough for many households. Losing internet customers, not just TV customers, is what makes the current moment different, and it strikes at the part of the business cable could least afford to lose.
This is why the phrase Cord Cutting 2.0 has caught on. The first wave was about leaving cable TV. The second is about leaving cable entirely, broadband included.
What It Means for You
For consumers, the competitive pressure is mostly good news, because it pushes prices down and options up. If you are a Spectrum TV customer weighing a switch, the live-TV streaming services and a free antenna now cover most of what the cable bundle did, often for less. Our guide to watching live TV without cable lays out the alternatives. On the internet side, it is worth checking whether fiber or fixed wireless has reached your address, since competition there is newer and the savings can be real.
Spectrum, for its part, is leaning hard into mobile, where it added hundreds of thousands of lines in the most recent quarter, trying to keep customers in its ecosystem even as they drop the traditional products.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many customers is Spectrum losing?
In the first quarter of 2026, Charter, Spectrum’s parent, lost about 60,000 video customers and 120,000 internet customers. Across all of 2025, it lost more than 284,000 TV customers and over 400,000 internet customers, a steady decline on both sides of the business.
Why is Spectrum losing TV customers?
Rising cable prices, driven by programming and retransmission fees, combined with cheaper and more flexible streaming alternatives, are pushing customers to cut the cord. Each price increase widens the value gap, and live-TV streaming services now replicate most of what cable offered.
Is Spectrum losing internet customers too?
Yes, and that is the bigger story. Spectrum lost about 120,000 internet customers in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Broadband was long considered the safe, high-margin core of the business, so these losses mark a more serious challenge than the TV declines.
What is Cord Cutting 2.0?
Cord Cutting 2.0 is the term for customers leaving cable internet, not just cable TV. The first wave of cord cutting was about dropping the TV package; the second wave extends that to broadband, as fiber and fixed wireless give households cheaper internet alternatives.
How many TV customers does Spectrum have now?
Spectrum has roughly 12.5 million video customers as of early 2026. Despite steady quarterly losses, that large base means the decline is gradual erosion rather than a sudden collapse, giving the company time to adapt its strategy.
What is Spectrum doing about the losses?
Spectrum has bundled ad-supported streaming apps into its TV plans to improve the value proposition, and it is leaning heavily into mobile service, adding hundreds of thousands of mobile lines per quarter to keep customers in its ecosystem even as they drop traditional TV and internet.
Should I cancel Spectrum?
That depends on your needs, but the alternatives are stronger than ever. For TV, live-streaming services and a free antenna cover most of the cable lineup, often for less. For internet, it is worth checking whether fiber or fixed wireless is available at your address before deciding.
Last updated: May 2026. We update this analysis as new quarterly subscriber data is reported.