Time Warner High-speed Data just doesn't roll off the tongue the way Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) does, but, if you listen to TWC CEO Glenn Britt, that's the company's profile, if not its name.
"High-speed data is quickly becoming the anchor product in the eyes of our customers," Britt said during a first quarter earnings call. High-speed data added 177,000 subscribers in the first quarter and, since quarter end, now accounts for 10 million Time Warner Cable subscribers. Video, the former anchor product, lost another 66,000 basic subscribers, bringing that number down to 12 million and change.
The video subscriber loss, as usual, didn't hurt business. The MSO posted profits of $325 million--52 percent higher than the $214 million it earned a year ago--and saw a 5 percent revenue increase to $4.8 billion.
Britt emphasized that Time Warner Cable is "not ignoring our traditional video environment" and would launch a new navigation application hosted on the network instead of set-tops.
Finally, TWC is also not ignoring the Los Angeles market where it's developed a regional sports network (RSN) along with an expensive exclusive programming deal with the NBA Lakers. So far, according to initial reports, the MSO hasn't been tempted to buy or trade for Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) properties in the market.
That stance is not set in bathtub filled with concrete, though.
"We're going to evaluate it like we look at all acquisitions and look at what it would be like under our ownership," Britt said. "We'll come out where we come out."
For more:
- see this news release
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