Charter Communications saw a rebound in pay TV subscribers during the fourth quarter, adding 44,000 video customers for a total of 12.6 million.
The improvement from a decline of 123,000 pay TV subscribers a year ago was driven by new and simplified pricing and packaging launched in September 2024, the inclusion of programmers’ streaming services in Spectrum’s expanded basic packages, and a “small benefit” related to Disney and YouTube TV’s carriage dispute, which was resolved in November.
The company’s mobile business was also a bright spot adding 428,000 lines, compared to 522,000 mobile lines a year ago. Charter also shed 119,000 Internet customers, a slight improvement from 177,00 in the year ago period.
“In this environment, getting back to positive net additions is a game of inches,” Charter CEO Chris Winfrey told analysts on Friday. “We’re incredibly focused on, one more, clearly messaging our superior value and utility, and two, providing the best quality service in the market in a way that is recognized by our customers, and our service is a competitive advantage.”
When asked if the increase in video customers was sustainable, Winfrey said that the company’s north star was “not to have net gains in video for net gain sakes.”
“Our goal is to have a video product that supports broadband acquisition and broadband retention. It’s a powerful tool to do that, if we can provide value and utility for customers,” he added. “What we’ve been able to do with video is create the best economics and choice for the customer, which means that we’re actually the best channel distribution path to maximize the opportunity for the programmer as well.”
He warned that the pay TV ecosystem is “still really challenged” with programming costs continuing to rise and that the company is simply on the “razor’s edge” of a turnaround.
“In particular, retrans is a real problem. But around that, I think you’ll see us continue to innovate,” Winfrey said. “We do have some new product ideas, we’ll talk to the programmers about that in the course of this year. But the key, for us, is to go back to connectivity, acquisition, insurance.”
“What happened in Q4 was really no different than Q3. There’s a slight difference between Q3 and Q4 that went from net loss to net gain. So you can just as easily, float back into the net loss category.The net gain isn’t our goal,” he added. “When you’re on the edge and you have a high amount of gross adds and a high amount of gross disconnects, it’s a dangerous place to be in terms of volatility. I think there’s some parallel there through Internet in a way that we need to get ourselves out of that space. And when I talk about game of inches, that really applies to all subscription businesses.”
The video customer gains come as Charter has entered into a $34.5 billion deal to merge with Cox Communications and create a pay TV giant. That deal is expected to close in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approval.
Despite the improvement, Charter’s overall net revenue fell 2.3% to $13.6 billion, driven by lower residential video and political advertising revenues. Net income attributable to Charter shareholders also fell 9% to $1.3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA slid 1.2% to $5.7 billion.
Charter shares were up more than 10% on Friday following the announcement.
