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[Via Satellite 04-04-2016] Pay-TV subscriptions around the world had their highest overall rise for two years, according to a quarterly research report from informitv. The research group’s “Multiscreen Index” tracked 100 pay-TV services that gained a total of 8.16 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2015, an increase of slightly more than 2 percent.

The 10 fastest growing services added 5.11 million television subscribers in the last quarter and 11.05 million over the course of 2015. Asia Pacific operators saw the greatest gains, adding 4.99 million subscribers. Five operators in India accounted for just more than 4 million of them. Informitv reports 2.07 million more subscribers in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, with Sky adding 337,000 subscribers in Europe, while Tricolor in Russia gained 200,000.

In North, Central and South America, the number of subscribers rose by 1.09 million. Sky Mexico gained 230,000, while DirecTV added 214,000 in the United States.

Of the 100 services in the study, 17 reported net subscriber losses for the quarter, with a combined loss of 762,000 television customers. AT&T U-verse reported the largest loss, shedding 240,000 subscribers as AT&T promoted its recent acquisition of satellite television provider DirecTV. Cable operators added the most subscribers, up by 4 million, followed by satellite with 2.95 million and telco providers up by 1.22 million.