Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable company, on Thursday reported it lost more residential video customers in the thirdquarter than in the previous quarter. Shares were higher in premarket trading following the announcement.
The company’s third-quarter earnings rose to $1.86 per share from $1.69 a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue increased to $5.71 billion from $5.52 million a year ago. Street analysts polled by Reuters had expected the cable company to post earnings of $1.90 a share on revenue of $5.75 million.
Time Warner Cable lost 184,000 residential video customers in thequarter, more than the 136,000 that market research firm Street Account had estimated. The company announced in early October that its stockholders had approved a deal for the firm to become a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Comcast.The $45 billion merger was first proposed in February and is still under regulatory review.
Benefiting from a tax settlement and more high-speed Internet customers, Comcast reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations last Thursday. In late August, TWC settled with the Federal Communications Commission for $1.1 million on charges the company had not reported multiple network outages. A day after the settlement, some of the firms 15 million U.S. customers reported brief service disruptions.