Charter Posts Higher 1Q Revenue, Lifted by Internet Gains

By Will Feuer

Charter Communications Inc. gained home-internet customers during the first three months of the year, but cord-cutting accelerated as more Americans dropped their cable TV plans.

The St. Louis-based cable company posted a first-quarter profit of $1.02 billion, or $6.65 a share, compared with $1.20 billion, or $6.90 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of $7.46 a share.

Revenue rose 3.4% to $13.65 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting revenue of $13.63 billion.

Charter grew its residential internet subscription base by 0.6%, or 67,000 subscribers, to 28.5 million subscribers, better than Wall Street analysts were expecting, according to FactSet.

However, cord-cutting increased as Charter recorded a net loss of 237,000 residential video customers in the quarter, more than the loss of 164,000 customers that analysts were expecting.

Revenue from internet services rose 4.9% to $5.72 billion and revenue from mobile services, a source of strength for Charter and its cable peers in recent years, grew 28.3% to $497 million. Revenue from video fell 2.1% to $4.25 billion and revenue from voice fell 4.6% to $373 million.

Write to Will Feuer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2023 07:54 ET (11:54 GMT)

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