RCN is struggling just to hold its own these days. More than a year after emerging from bankruptcy, the once high-flying cable competitor reported flat revenues and customer totals for the fourth quarter and full year in results released Wed.

Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading

March 16, 2006

1 Min Read
RCN Posts Flat Q4 Results

RCN is struggling just to hold its own these days. More than a year after emerging from bankruptcy, the one-time high-flying cable competitor reported flat revenues and subscriber totals for the fourth quarter and full year in financial results released Wed. RCN said it closed out 2005 with 409,000 overall customers, down 2,000 from the end of September and down 16,000 from the end of 2004. Total revenue generating units, however, edged up 2,000 over the course of the year to 887,000, as a small increase in cable modem customers offset a combination of smaller declines in voice and video subscribers. RCN generated $140 million in total revenue in Q4, up a smidgeon from $139 million in Q3 and even with last year's final quarter. For the year, the company reported $561 million in total revenue, down ever so slightly from $562 million in 2004. In the brightest sign, RCN said 68% of its customers now take product bundles, up from 67% at the end of September and 63% at the end of 2004. In addition, the MSO's average monthly revenue per customer inched up to $103 in the fall quarter, up from $102 per customer three months earlier and $97 per customer a year earlier. Despite the generally flat results, RCN officials insist that the company's outlook is positive. They say RCN has begun laying new plant and growing again after focusing almost entirely on cost-cutting over the last two years.

About the Author(s)

Alan Breznick

Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading

Alan Breznick is a business editor and research analyst who has tracked the cable, broadband and video markets like an over-bred bloodhound for more than 20 years.

As a senior analyst at Light Reading's research arm, Heavy Reading, for six years, Alan authored numerous reports, columns, white papers and case studies, moderated dozens of webinars, and organized and hosted more than 15 -- count 'em --regional conferences on cable, broadband and IPTV technology topics. And all this while maintaining a summer job as an ostrich wrangler.

Before that, he was the founding editor of Light Reading Cable, transforming a monthly newsletter into a daily website. Prior to joining Light Reading, Alan was a broadband analyst for Kinetic Strategies and a contributing analyst for One Touch Intelligence.

He is based in the Toronto area, though is New York born and bred. Just ask, and he will take you on a power-walking tour of Manhattan, pointing out the tourist hotspots and the places that make up his personal timeline: The bench where he smoked his first pipe; the alley where he won his first fist fight. That kind of thing.

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