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The picture darkened a shade or two for the cable television industry Thursday after a flurry of earnings reports showed subscriber losses across the board.

Astral Media Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., the owners of profitable and popular pay-TV networks such as HBO Canada and Movie Central, reported unexpectedly sharp customer declines in the third quarter ended May 31.

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Meanwhile, one of their TV distribution partners, Cogeco Cable Inc., also booked TV subscription losses.

While still generating enviable profit, the dips are separate signs — and additional evidence — that cable’s heyday appears to be drawing to a close, market observers say.

In place of the steady revenue and margin expansion cable operators once enjoyed almost automatically stand long-talked about — and now plainly visible — scraps for market share that are just entering their opening rounds.

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