New York City-based Time Warner Cable, America's second-largest cable company, released its second quarter earnings report, with slightly disappointing numbers on profit and revenue.
The cable provider is pending a merger with Comcast, a tryst that will see $45 billion dollars change hands in cash and other goodies. Both companies provide television, video, high-speed data and voice services in the U.S.
TWC CEO Rob Marcus chose to soft-pedal the missed projections on profit and revenue by extolling the achievement of increases in both average revenue per customer (up 1.7 percent to $106.98 per) and average monthly broadband customer bill (up 9.7 percent, to $46.92).
Should the Comcast-TWC merger clear regulatory hurdles and become a reality, Marcus stands to pocket a $79.9 million dollar severance package, which will certainly allow him to max out his cable service.
Waxing enthusiastic as might be expected, Marcus said in a statement, "Time Warner Cable posted another very good quarter. We delivered the best second quarter subscriber volumes in years, accelerated ARPU growth and made terrific progress on our strategic and operating initiatives."
Despite the rosy assessment, TWC still suffered a net loss of 152,000 residential pay TV subscribers in the second quarter. At least it was a smaller loss than same-time-last-year's 191,000 attrition rate. Broadband subscriptions perked up by 67,000, representing the best second quarter in that category in four years.
TWC's second-quarter earnings were reported at $499 billion, up 3.7 percent from $481 billion this time last year. Revenue jumped 3.2 percent in the same period to $5.73 billion. These numbers disquieted Wall Street, although quietly since the numbers didn't miss by much.
Aside from the excitement of the Comcast merger, which rang up charges of $49 million in the second quarter, TWC also is coping with higher operating expenses due to "increased programming and content costs associated with SportsNet LA, a regional sports network carrying the Los Angeles Dodgers along with other sports-centric programming."
SportsNet LA is currently in negotiations with other cable television providers and TWC as well as other providers have agreed to binding arbitration, as befitting any entity in the sports world. It's still a mess, but TWC remains committed to a solution that provides Dodger games to the team's fans.
TWC also announced that its TWC Maxx network and services upgrade program, already launched in New York City and Los Angeles, will be rolled out shortly in the Austin, Texas, market.
