Time Warner Cable kicked off the fourth quarter cable reporting season
Thursday morning with no big surprises, as revenue rose 5.9% to $4.8
billion and adjusted operating income before depreciation and
amortization increased 1.6%, mostly in line with analyst estimates.
The
strong results also spurred the nation's second largest MSO to increase
its quarterly dividend by 20% to 48 cents per share, or $1.92 per share
annualized.
Strong growth on the high-speed data and phone fronts -
especially in the commercial segment - helped drive the quarter.
High-speed data subscriber increased by 94,000 in the period and digital
phone customers rose by 72,000. The second largest cable operator in
the country lost 141,000 basic video customers in the period, greater
than analyst consensus estimates of 122,000 basic subscriber losses for
the period.
On a conference call with analysts, chief operating
officer Rob Marcus said the effects of a sluggish housing market and a
weak economy continue to pressure customer additions.
