• by Wayne Friedman , January 28, 2022

Charter Communications witnessed steady broadband subscriber growth alongside expected declines in its video customers for the fourth quarter.

Amid continuing overall declines in the stock market, Charter’s stock was up 1.5% in early morning Friday trading to $567.76.

Residential internet customers grew 172,000 to total 28.1 million. It added 216,000 customers a year ago. Residential video subscribers dipped 71,000 versus a drop of 66,000 in the same quarter a year ago, to total 15.2 million.

Looking at the year as a whole, Charter dropped 3% in video subscribers -- a 423,000 net loss -- which is better than its nearest competitors. The day before, Comcast Corp. reported a yearly net subscriber loss of 1.5 million -- down 8% -- to 18.2 million.

Revenues from broadband/internet business was up 12% to $5.4 billion, with video revenue basically flat at $4.4 billion.

Concerning the latter, Charter says it maintained revenue stability due to lower-priced video packages, as well as some $31 million in sports network credits in regards to pandemic disruptions a year ago.

Comcast’s landline phone/voice customers fell 163,000 (to total 8.6 million). However, mobile phone subscribers were up 363,000 (to 3.5 million).

Advertising revenue sank a big -- but expected -- 28% in the fourth quarter to $448 million, due to the loss of high political-related advertising sales a year ago from the presidential election.

Overall, company-wide revenue for Charter was up 4.7% to $13.2 billion in the period. Net income to Charter shareholders grew 47% to $4.7 billion.