Time Warner Cable gains Internet subs
The company lost TV customers but managed to beat rivals AT&T and Verizon Communications when it came to adding broadband customers.
Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 cable operator in the U.S., saw strong broadband subscriber growth in the first quarter, which helped the company boost earnings 30 percent during the three-month period.
Time Warner reported a profit of $214 million, or 60 cents a share. This was up from $164 million, or 48 cents per share, during the same quarter a year ago. The results included 22 cents of restructuring charges. Revenue was up 5.4 percent to $4.6 billion. Analysts expected the company to earn 74 cents a share on $4.56 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
While cable companies may be losing some video subscribers to phone companies now offering TV service, they are gaining broadband customers. The company added 212,000 residential Internet subscribers and 86,000 residential phone subscribers during the quarter. But it lost 42,000 video subscribers.
On Wednesday, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, reported it added 399,000 broadband customers during the quarter. That number, combined with Time Warner's 212,000 new broadband subscribers, is twice as many as AT&T and Verizon Communications added over the same time period.