Cablevision Systems reported a mixed fourth quarter Thursday, with revenue at its cable business up 7% in the period, but adjusted operating cash flow growth at 4%, impacted primarily by its decision last year to shutter its Voom HDTV programming service.
Revenue at the cable operations was $1.3 billion and AOCF was $498.1 million. For the year, cable revenue grew 9.1% to $5 billion and AOCF increased 10.7% to $2 billion. For the full year, free cash flow -- cash flow after interest payments and capital expenditures are made -- more than tripled to $507 million from $158 million in 2007.
The Bethpage, N.Y.-based MSO said it lost about 3,800 basic subscribers in the quarter, well outpacing analyst consensus estimates of 12,000 basic subtractions. But the company slightly missed some other key subscriber metrics -- digital customers were up 22,800; high-speed data subscribers increased by 28,200 (vs. consensus of 31,000 additions) and digital phone customers rose 53,400 (vs. consensus of 56,000 additions).
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