Knology makes money in first quarter, but still loses video customers

Yet another cable operator has reported that it made money in the first quarter while losing video subscribers. Knology (Nasdaq: KNOL) said it gained a total of 6,729 customers (5,159 data and 2,126 voice) but lost 556 video subs, continuing with a trend started by its larger cable brethren of making money on data and telephony and watching video viewers recede.

Knology Chairman-CEO Rodger Johnson said the company "achieved all-time records for revenue ($128 million, up 16.2 percent over 2010), EBITDA ($47.4 million, up 26 percent over 2010) and net income ($11.4 million, up 356 percent over 2010). We also experienced growth in connections, including connections from our legacy footprint as well as continued growth from our high ROI edge-out network expansion."

The video subscriber loss trend is expected to continue Thursday when Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) announces its first quarter results. Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne is already on record suggesting TWC will drop about 60,000 more subscribers--less than the 141,000 who left in the same period but unimpressive compared to the gains Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS and AT&T (NYSE: T) U-verse showed in their results.

For more:
- see this news release
- Forbes.com has this story

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