Charter released its Q4 2016 earnings report on Thursday, and that included a loss of 51,000 residential video subscribers for the quarter, which compares to a gain of 118,000 in the same quarter a year ago period on a pro forma basis. That loss reportedly came mainly from legacy Time Warner Cable systems, but Charter executives said all-digital efforts for those should help video growth in future quarters.
The operator reported adding 357,000 high-speed data subscribers in Q4, which compares to 450,000 in Q4 2015. Voice customer additions were 39,000 for the quarter. In Q4 2015, there were 304,000 voice adds in the same period in 2015, which the company points out were driven by heavy promotions at legacy Time Warner Cable.
On a pro forma basis, total customer relationships grew by 1,154,000 or 4.6 percent for the full 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2016.
On the profit side, Charter was ahead of Wall Street predictions. It earned $454 million ($1.67 per share) after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was $10.28 billion. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.06 per share, while eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $10.25 billion in revenue, according to the Associated Press.
