Cable giant Charter Communications added to the headwinds facing the traditional cable TV sector by continuing to lose broadband and video customers during the fourth quarter.
The company lost 177,000 broadband customers to finish 2024 with 30.1 million subscribers. That reduction followed rival Comcast a day earlier reporting its total domestic broadband customer net losses came to 139,000 for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Charter, which does business under the Spectrum brand name, also lost 123,000 video subscribers in the fourth quarter, against a year-earlier loss of 257,000 customers, and ended 2024 with 12.9 million subscribers. Charter, Comcast and other legacy cable giants face increasing competition from YouTube and other streaming-era competitors to reach and retain TV viewers.
Charter added 529,000 mobile line subscribers during the quarter, just down from 546,000 new customers added during the same period last year. Charter serves 9.9 million mobile lines, with 2.1 million lines added last year.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 1.6 percent to $13.9 billion, while net income attributable to shareholders came to $1.5 billion for the three-month period.
“Our multi-year investments in network evolution, expansion and execution are delivering tangible results,” Chris Winfrey, president and CEO of Charter, said in a statement ahead of a Friday morning analyst call.
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