TW Cable Misses Q3 Targets

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) missed its third-quarter financial targets as the operator shed more video customers and added fewer broadband subscribers than analysts were expecting.

The second-largest cable operator in the U.S. posted net income of US$808 million ($2.60 per share) on revenues of $5.36 billion, up 9.2 percent versus the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, including investment gains tied to Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR), and the cross-MSO Spectrum Co. LLC partnership, earnings were $1.41 per share. Analysts were expecting net income of $1.43 per share and revenues of $5.39 billion. (See TW Cable to Dump Clearwire Stake.)

TW Cable lost 140,000 video subs, about 13,000 more than the 128,000 analysts were expecting, giving it a total of 12.15 million at the end of the quarter.

TW Cable added 85,000 high-speed Internet subs in the quarter versus the 96,000 anticipated by Wall Street, for a total of 10.86 million. Voice subscriber additions were flat, keeping that total at roughly 4.99 million.

TW Cable continued to stoke business services growth in the quarter, as the category pulled in $493 million, up 27.4 percent year-over-year.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable