What are the key sales KPIs for the Cable / Satellite TV industry in 2027?

Question

Pulse RevOps · The Machine · Accepted Answer

### Direct Answer

The nine sales KPIs that actually move cable and satellite TV businesses in 2027 are **Gross Adds**, **Net Adds**, **Subscriber Churn %**, **ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)**, **Bundle Penetration %**, **Truck-Roll Rate**, **MRR per Subscriber**, **Streaming-Migration Rate**, and **Cost-to-Serve per Sub**. Cord-cutting has flipped the industry on its head — the median U.S. Multichannel video provider lost roughly 6-9% of its video subscriber base in 2026 according to Leichtman Research Group, and the operators who are still profitable have stopped optimizing for raw video subs and started optimizing for total household monetization. The KPIs below reflect that pivot.

> **TL;DR for the CRO:** Stop reporting Gross Adds in isolation — it hides the bleeding. The unit-economics truth lives at the intersection of Net Adds, Churn, ARPU, and Cost-to-Serve. If your Streaming-Migration Rate is below 25% of departing video subs, you're losing the household entirely. Target: Churn under 2.0%/month, ARPU above $135, Truck-Roll Rate under 0.18 per sub per year.

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## 1. Why Cable and Satellite Sales KPIs Work Differently

Cable and satellite is the only major B2C subscription industry where the headline metric — total subscribers — has been declining for ten consecutive years. MoffettNathanson's 2026 Q3 Cord-Cutting Monitor put the U.S. Pay-TV penetration rate at 47.3% of occupied households, down from 86% at the 2010 peak. That single fact reshapes every KPI conversation.

Three structural realities drive the differences:

**Infrastructure-heavy unit economics.** Comcast spent roughly $9.8B on network capex in 2026 per its 10-K. That fixed-cost base means a churned subscriber doesn't reduce cost by an equivalent amount — Cost-to-Serve per Sub *rises* as the denominator shrinks. Sales KPIs must account for the marginal-cost asymmetry.

**Bundle-driven retention, not standalone video.** Charter's 2026 investor day disclosed that triple-play subs (video + broadband + mobile) churn at roughly 40% the rate of video-only subs. Bundle Penetration is no longer a cross-sell vanity stat; it's the single best leading indicator of survivable LTV.

**Streaming as both threat and lifeboat.** Comcast's NOW TV, Charter's Spectrum TV Stream, and DISH's Sling TV all exist to capture the household *after* the traditional video relationship dies. Streaming-Migration Rate — what percent of cancelling video subs you retain on a streaming product — has become a board-level KPI.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A[Household Inquiry] --> B{Bundle Opportunity?}
    B -->|Triple-play offered| C[Bundle Penetration ↑]
    B -->|Video only| D[High Churn Risk]
    C --> E[ARPU $165-195]
    D --> F[ARPU $85-110]
    E --> G[Net Adds Positive Cohort]
    F --> H{Cancellation Trigger}
    H -->|Save offer accepted| I[Retention Save]
    H -->|Streaming migration| J[Streaming-Migration Rate ↑]
    H -->|Hard cancel| K[Subscriber Churn % ↑]
    J --> L[Household Retained, Lower ARPU]
    K --> M[Cost-to-Serve per Sub ↑ on remaining base]
    I --> G
    L --> G
```

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## 2. The 9 KPIs, Defined and Benchmarked

**Gross Adds** — New video subscribers activated in the period, before subtracting disconnects. NCTA's 2026 industry report benchmarks healthy cable Gross Adds at 1.8-2.4% of base/quarter; satellite (DISH, DirecTV) runs lower at 0.9-1.4% due to limited footprint expansion. Track by acquisition channel: door-to-door, retail (Best Buy, Walmart), inbound digital, and MDU (multi-dwelling unit) bulk deals.

**Net Adds** — Gross Adds minus disconnects. This is the number the Street actually reacts to. The industry-wide truth: Net Adds for traditional linear video have been negative since 2014. The realistic 2027 benchmark for a "winning" operator is *less-negative* than peers. Comcast lost ~2.0M video subs in 2026 per its 10-K; Charter lost ~1.7M; DISH lost ~960K. Best-in-class is breakeven on the broadband-plus-video household.

**Subscriber Churn %** — Monthly disconnects divided by beginning-of-period subscribers. Cable benchmark: 1.8-2.4%/month per S&P Global Market Intelligence's MediaCensus. Satellite runs hotter at 2.6-3.3%/month — no broadband bundle to anchor the household. Below 1.8% is exceptional; above 3.0% means you're in a death spiral.

**ARPU** — Total video revenue divided by average subscribers. Comcast's video ARPU was ~$142 in 2026; Charter ~$128; DISH ~$108. ARPU is being propped up by price hikes on a shrinking base — a dangerous dynamic. Healthier signal: blended household ARPU including broadband and mobile, where the leaders clear $185.

**Bundle Penetration %** — Percent of subscribers taking two or more services. Charter reported 71% of residential subs on multi-product as of Q4 2026. Cox runs 68%. DISH, with no broadband, sits structurally below 15% (mobile/Boost only). Target: 65%+ for cable operators, with triple-play (video + broadband + mobile) the highest-LTV cohort.

**Truck-Roll Rate** — Field-tech

What are the key sales KPIs for the Cable / Satellite TV industry in 2027?

Direct Answer

1. Why Cable and Satellite Sales KPIs Work Differently

2. The 9 KPIs, Defined and Benchmarked

3. How Real Operators Use These KPIs

4. Failure Modes — How These KPIs Break

5. Reporting Cadence

6. The 30/60/90 for a New Cable/Satellite Sales Leader

FAQ

Sources

What are the key sales KPIs for the Cable / Satellite TV industry in 2027?

Direct Answer

1. Why Cable and Satellite Sales KPIs Work Differently

2. The 9 KPIs, Defined and Benchmarked

3. How Real Operators Use These KPIs

4. Failure Modes — How These KPIs Break

5. Reporting Cadence

6. The 30/60/90 for a New Cable/Satellite Sales Leader

FAQ

Sources

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