The U.S. multichannel video market expanded from 97 million video subscribers at year-end 2008 to 99.9 million as of year-end 2009; however, performance was mixed among the three distribution categories.

Cable subscribers slipped from 62.6 million to 62.1 million, while DBS subscribers had a healthy increase from 31.3 million to 32.7 million. Telco showed the biggest gains, with video subscribers growing 65 percent, from 3.1 million to 5.1 million.

This is according to a special report on the multichannel video market from SNL Kagan, in partnership with MediaBiz.

Cable is still the dominant provider in the top-ten markets in the U.S., with the highest relative market share in Boston at 74.9 percent. DBS has its highest share in Atlanta, with 43.4 percent of the video market, while telco’s strongest foothold is in Dallas-Ft. Worth, at 14.1 percent.

The multichannel special report will be available at SNL Kagan’s booth at The Cable Show this week in Los Angeles.