Charter Communications reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2023 on Friday as cord-cutting continued in the company’s cable TV business.
The cable giant reported net income of $1 billion, or $6.65 per share, for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $1.2 billion, or $6.90 per share, during the same period a year ago.
Total revenue increased 3.4% year over year to $13.7 billion. Residential revenue grew 2.5% year over year to $10.8 billion, Internet revenue grew 4.9% year-over-year to $5.7 billion, and video revenue fell 2.1% to $4.3 billion. Voice revenue fell 4.6% year over year to $373 million, mobile services revenue grew 28.3% to $497 million, and commercial revenue grew 2.4% year over year to $1.8 billion. Advertising sales revenue decreased 7.2% year over year to $355 million, primarily driven by lower political revenue.
Analysts expected the company to report earnings per share of $7.56 on total revenue of $13.6 billion.
Charter reported a total of 32.2 million residential and small and medium business customer relationships, excluding mobile-only relationships. Total residential and small and medium business Internet subscribers increased from 76,000 to 30.5 million, and total residential and small and medium business mobile lines increased from 686,000 to 6 million.
Residential video subscribers declined 237,000 to 14.3 million, partly driven by downgrades following the January passout of higher programming expenses, and small and medium business video subscribers fell 4,000 to 646,000. Charter plans to begin deployment of Zumo-branded streaming devices in late 2023.
“In the first quarter, we made significant progress on our three key initiatives – growth, expansion and execution,” Charter Chairman and CEO Chris Winfrey said in a statement. “Our customer-first strategy is focused on delivering a differentiated, converged connectivity product that delivers the fastest speeds and saves customers money, while simultaneously accelerating growth and creating long-term value for Charter shareholders.”
Shares of Charter Communications traded flat in pre-market trading after the earnings announcement.
