• by Wayne Friedman , October 29, 2021

With video subscriber erosion in the third quarter, Charter Communications still witnessed decent gains in overall video revenue -- up 7%.

Benefiting the video business, was a return of sporting events on regional sports networks.

In 2020, U.S. regional sports networks had less professional sports TV content from cancellation of game,s due to the pandemic. Pay TV operators got credits, which in turn, were passed on to subscribers. For the third-quarter 2020, Charter had $218 million in sports credits.

For the three months ending in September, Charter’s video revenue climbed to $4.5 billion -- even as it posted a 133,000 net loss in subscribers, now totaling 15.7 million. In addition to the returning sports content, Charter’s video consumers were subject to a rate increase and rate adjustments.

In the third quarter a year ago, Charter posted a gain of 33,000 video subscribers -- a rare feat for a traditional cable TV company in a growing age of cord-cutting.

Charter’s broadband business continues to thrive -- with 13% higher revenues to $5.4 billion. It added 243,000 customers, down from 494,000 additions in the third-quarter 2020.

Local video advertising sales were down 15% to $391 million -- due to lower political ad dollars, compared to the year-before third-quarter period.

Total company revenue was up 9% to $13.1 billion, with net income attributable to Charter shareholders up 50% to $1.2 billion. Charter stock price was down 5% in early Friday trading to $670.68.