Employees
Charter Goes Positive
November 6, 2015
Share Article:
Originally appears in Multichannel news
By Mike Farrell
October 29, 2015
UPDATED: Video Sub Gains Counter Cord-Cutting Narrative
Charter Communications continued cable’s streak of improved basic video customer growth, adding 12,000 customers in the third quarter, its first positive growth quarter since Q4 2014.
Charter also increased high-speed data customer additions, adding 131,000 in the period versus 94,000 additions in the same period last year. Telephony customer additions also increased to 37,000 in the quarter, compared to 29,000 additions in the prior year.
“Clearly, 2Q15 was not a negative inflection point for the industry, and this morning’s results from Charter and Time Warner Cable validate this thesis of ours,” analyst Vijay Jayant, of Evercore ISI, said in a note to investors. Pay TV operators struggled in the second quarter of this year, raising fears of a spiral of subscriber losses (see Kagan: Cord-Cutters Drive Pay TV Losses To 625K). Craig Moffett, of MoffettNathanson, commented in part: “It’s time to change the narrative about cord cutting.”