Time Warner Video Subs Slide

Despite overall revenue growth, Time Warner Cable Inc. continues to suffer losses in its residential video business. The company dropped 119,000 residential video subscribers in the first three months of 2013, and US$40 million in video revenue compared to the first quarter of 2012. Unfortunately for Time Warner, this week's earnings report contrasts dramatically with quarterly video gains claimed by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Those telecom competitors added a combined 398,000 video subscribers in the first quarter of 2013. (See AT&T Piles the Hurt on Cable, and FiOS Turns the Screw on Cable.) Time Warner has plenty of good news to celebrate, however. The company's declining video fortunes were offset by the addition of 131,000 new broadband subscribers, and a higher average revenue per user among Internet service customers. Time Warner also enjoyed a significant rate of growth for its commercial services business, increasing revenues more than 25 percent year-on-year to $537 million in the quarter. Other news of note in the earnings report: Time Warner increased advertising revenue to $228 million, and recorded $99 million in "other" revenue, primarily from distribution fees earned through the company's regional sports networks in Los Angeles. Average monthly video programming expenses were up, with the average fee per subscriber growing to $33.16. — Mari Silbey, Special to Light Reading Cable