Charter Adds Customers, Losses Too

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Cable system operator Charter Communications headed south during the first quarter -- posting a net loss from profit results of a year ago. Still, overall revenues were up.

Charter had a $110 million net loss versus a profit of $24 million a year earlier, with revenue climbing slightly -- 2%, to $1.77 billion. The major reason for the loss was a $67 million non-cash loss on extinguishing debt in 2011 and a nonrecurring tax benefit of $69 million in the first quarter of 2010.

Looking at the key financial statistic of cash flow, the company says its first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization grew 4.7%.

Mike Lovett, president and CEO of Charter, stated: "Our first-quarter performance was driven by the acceleration of growth in our commercial business, discipline around customer acquisition, and continued strength in our high-speed Internet business driving higher customer relationships."

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Charter's average monthly revenue per basic video customer grew -- up 8.2% year-over-year to $131.01, helped by additional digital products bundled with advanced video services. Approximately 61.4% of Charter's residential customers subscribe to a bundle, compared to 58.5% a year ago.

Charter added 22,000 residential overall customers. While non-video customer relationships increased nearly 50,000 for the quarter, video customers decreased by approximately 25,100 customers -- due to continuing drops in its analog video customers.

Looking at a segment of its video consumers, digital video customers increased by 28,400. Now digital penetration at Charter has reached 75.4% of its consumer base, with 54.0% of its digital customers taking HD and/or DVR services.

Internet revenues were $412 million, up 5.1%. Telephone revenues were $212 million, for a 7.1% increase.

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