Charter Communications Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter profit as
the cable operator boosted revenue following its $1.6 billion
acquisition of Bresnan Broadband Holdings LLC.
The quarterly report comes about a week after Comcast Corp.
unveiled its $45 billion deal for Time Warner Cable Inc., which
would combine the two largest cable operators. The proposed
agreement almost certainly ends an eight-month takeover battle for
TWC by Charter, the fourth-largest cable operator, and its biggest
shareholder, Liberty Media Corp.
Charter's pursuit of TWC, which began after Liberty bought a 27%
stake in Charter about a year ago, had raised the possibility that
Liberty Chairman John Malone would emerge as a rival to Comcast CEO
Brian Roberts. Mr. Malone, a cable pioneer, once led the U.S. cable
industry but sold his previous cable firm, Tele-Communications
Inc., to AT&T in 1999.
For its latest period, Charter said its rate of residential
video-subscriber losses continued to slow: The company lost 2,000
customers in the fourth quarter compared with losses of 36,000 a
year earlier when adjusting for the Bresnan acquisition. The
company attributed the improving trend to more competitive video
products including more HD channels, packaging of advanced services
and new selling methods.
Internet customer net additions were 93,000, improved from
59,000 a year earlier. Voice additions were 56,000, up from
34,000.
Charter Communications reported a profit of $39 million, or 35
cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $40 million, or
41 cents a share.
Revenue rose 12% to $2.15 billion, driven by the July
acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp.'s Bresnan Broadband. Video
and Internet revenue grew though voice revenue declined.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently expected per-share
earnings of 24 cents and revenue of $2.16 billion.
Expenses rose 14% because of higher marketing and programming
costs.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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