In the face of fierce backlash from HBO, Showtime and Starz, NPD Group has temporarily pulled a report from its website claiming that premium cable channels have declined in popularity.
A spokesman for the market research company said it is double-checking the numbers after the three channels claimed that the data is faulty and that their subscriber rolls have actually increased in recent years.
“The research is simply incorrect,” an HBO spokesman said in a statement to TheWrap. “Both HBO and Cinemax services have shown significant domestic subscriber growth the past two years.”
A Showtime spokeswoman said, “The NPD research is not accurate.