Time Warner Cable Revenue Misses As Data Services Disappoint

Time Warner Cable Inc, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, reported first-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates as it added fewer-than-expected subscribers for its high-speed data services.

Time Warner Cable and its larger rival, Comcast Corp, have increasingly relied on internet customers for growth as they continue to lose cable-TV subscribers and grapple with rising programming costs.

Time Warner added only 143,000 high-speed data subscribers in the first quarter, far fewer than the 181,000 subscriber additions analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.

It lost 119,000 residential video subscribers in the first quarter, more than the 91,000 that analysts had expected.

The cable provider has been shoring up its sports programming in recent months. In 2011, it agreed to a $3 billion, 20-year deal to carry Los Angeles Lakers basketball games on its Time Warner Cable Sports channel.

Net income attributable to the company rose to $401 million, or $1.34 per share, in the first quarter, from $382 million, or $1.20 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.41 per share.

Revenue rose about 6.6 percent to $5.48 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $1.37 per share on revenue of $5.49 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company closed at $92.73 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

REUTERS