Charter Communications issued preliminary earnings results for the fourth quarter late Tues., saying that it expects to reduce its basic subscriber losses while boosting its digital cable, high-speed data and telephony customers by healthy amounts.

In a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the stock market closed yesterday, Charter said it lost 21,800 basic cable subscribers in the fall quarter, a big improvement over the 82,600 basic customers it lost in the same period a year earlier. At the same time, the nation’s fourth largest MSO said it gained 47,200 digital video, 76,400 cable modem and 31,600 VoIP subscribers in Q4.
 
Charter also said it would report $1.34 billion to $1.35 billion in pro forma revenue for the quarter, up 5.5 percent to 6.2 percent from a year ago. But the MSO expects pro forma cash flow to slip between 2 percent and 4 percent to about $490 million to $500 million.

In addition, Charter said capital spending will likely total $270 million to $280 million in Q4, down slightly from its $285 million total in the final quarter of 2004. It said capital expenditures for the entire year will likely add up to about $1.1 billion, including $40 million to $45 million in expenses related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.