Time Warner Cable kicked off the 2012 earnings season Thursday with heavier than expected basic customer losses, but revenue and cash flow growth came in ahead of most analysts' expectations.
"Time Warner Cable's first quarter results reflect continued strong performance, and residential Internet and business services were standouts," TWC chairman and CEO Glenn Britt said in the earnings release ahead of an 8:30 a.m. ET call with analysts. "Now that we have closed the Insight acquisition, our increased cash flow is available to fuel further investments in the business and capital returns to our shareholders."
The second largest MSO in the country shed about 94,000 basic video customers in the period, more than the 66,000 it lost in the prior year and above the 55,000 to 60,000 that most analysts anticipated.
Despite that shortfall, analysts were pleased with the results.
"TWC reported 1Q12 subscriber and financial results that, except for video subs, were generally better than our expectations," Credit Suisse media analyst Stefan Anninger wrote in a research note Thursday morning.
