• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

Charter Communications seems to reaching some new level when it comes to cord-cutting consumers. 

Is Charter -- along with other legacy cable, satellite pay TV providers now reaching “core” traditional TV consumers? Yes, but perhaps new types of consumers as well.

The broadband, mobile, and video communications company lost just 21,000 in its second-quarter reporting period -- down from a 80,000 drop during the same second-quarter period in 2025.

Now total video subscribers are around 12.5 million, virtually the same as in the first quarter. In the previous three periods, Charter also lost some ground, but remained at around the 12.6 million level

What’s working? It may not be just "core" consumers. In recent years, Charter has been one of the leaders when it comes to legacy pay TV retailers selling big packages of linear TV networks, along with streaming platforms.

Charter was the first big legacy pay TV company to do this, making combined traditional TV station and cable TV deals along with streaming platforms. 

Three years ago, in September 2023, it made a deal with Walt Disney that included Disney+ and ESPN streaming platforms, which were included in its Spectrum TV cable TV bundles.

Now, Charter -- via its Spectrum brands --  bundles up to 10 to 11 popular premium streaming apps into its video packages by integrating them directly alongside traditional live, linear TV channels. 

Major streaming platforms include Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock Premium, ESPN Unlimited, discovery+, and Fox One. 

But here’s the key. It comes in one big package for traditional consumers who want it all -- including 150 to 230 TV channels. And yes, the price tag is seemingly high -- from $100/month to $145/month for its TV Select Signature, TV Select Plus and TV Platform packages.

But that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent. It caters to those traditional TV viewers subscribers who are not interested in abandoning and then re-signing onto streaming platforms to save money on a month-to-month basis. At the same time, it could also be reaching modern streaming-focused TV consumers as well. 

Broadly speaking, the same is going on overall at other legacy cable, satellite, pay TV providers, although not exactly at the same level.

Comcast Corp. for example, still lost 1.15 million domestic video subscribers in 2025 -- down from 1.5 million to 2 million from 2022 to 2023.

What is going on is that older demographics, rural households, and some diehard live sports fans are resistant to fully cutting back.

Right now, 34% to 36% of U.S. households still pay for traditional cable, satellite, or telco TV. The vast majority of people who wanted to cut the cord have already done so.

If this is nearly the bottom, then what comes next?