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 that 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. Those losses were due in part to hurricane impacts and the end of Affordable Connectivity Program government subsidies for low-income households.Charter will reveal the near-term impact of the recent Los Angeles wildfires on its networks and subscribers when reporting financials for its current first quarter as that city rebuilds and services are restored to new homes over time.Charter, Comcast and other legacy cable giants face increasing competition from YouTube and other streaming-era competitors and the decline of traditional TV to reach and retain video 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, lifted in part by higher political revenue, while net income attributable to shareholders came to $1.5 billion for the three-month period.“As we look at 2025 and beyond, the environment for broadband, mobile and video remains competitive, but we have better visibility than this time last year,” Chris Winfrey, president and CEO of Charter, told analysts during a Friday morning conference call as his company looks to new pricing and packaging of mobile, video and Internet services for better subscriber value.“It (packaging) allowed us, when you take two or three sets of products between broadband, mobile and video, to offer Internet at the lower price, both at a promotional and retail value, and to offer a price based on the bundle that you were taking,” Winfrey said of pricing and packaging adjustments, especially for mobile lines, to better acquire and retain customers.“I think video can become an asset again, and it doesn’t mean that we’re going to grow video. I’m not saying that. But I think we can use it as a significant asset…together with mobile to find ways to drive growth with a unique set of products to save customers a lot of money,” he added of new live TV and popular streaming apps being added to video subscriber packages to drive customer value.Winfrey also talked about potential mergers and acquisitions to expand the company’s national footprint amid the new Trump administration in Washington D.C. “The door for M&A, I think there’s a lot of chatter that it’s wide open. I don’t think it’s wide open. I think any M&A transaction that you have to do in any administration, anytime, it has to be good for customers. It has to be good for jobs,” he argued.
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