STAMFORD, Conn., Jan 30, 2026, 12:26 (EST)
- Charter shed 119,000 internet customers in Q4, beating analyst forecasts; its shares jumped over 10%.
- The company added 428,000 mobile lines—falling short of forecasts—while promoting discounted bundles.
- Quarterly revenue dropped to $13.6 billion, falling short of Wall Street expectations.
Charter Communications saw its shares jump over 10% on Friday after reporting a smaller-than-anticipated decline in broadband subscribers for the fourth quarter, even though it missed revenue estimates.
The results come at a tough time for U.S. cable operators, who are scrambling to keep their high-margin internet customers amid the growth of fiber networks and 5G-based wireless home internet offers. Subscriber numbers are the key indicator of whether the traditional cable bundle can be reinvented.
Charter is banking on “converged” deals—discounted bundles that pair home broadband with mobile service—and ramping up its rural footprint. It’s also working to hold onto customers by enabling Spectrum users to bundle internet, TV, and phone services into a single plan.
Charter shed 119,000 internet customers in the quarter ending Dec. 31, beating Visible Alpha’s forecast of a 131,970 drop, according to both the company and the data provider. The year closed with Charter holding roughly 29.7 million internet subscribers.
“By 2026, we expect to have almost finished our rural expansion, adding more than 1.7 million new subsidized rural passings,” CEO Chris Winfrey stated. Passings refer to the homes and businesses the network can serve; the “subsidized” term means these areas receive government funding.
Mobile results were uneven. Charter gained 428,000 mobile lines during the quarter, falling short of the 482,990 forecast by analysts, per Visible Alpha. They ended the year with roughly 11.8 million mobile lines.
Video was a rare bright spot for a cable company in 2025. Charter reported a gain of 44,000 total video customers this quarter, a sharp turnaround from losing 123,000 in the same period last year. The boost came thanks to streamlined packages and adding some programmers’ streaming apps to select Spectrum plans.
Charter’s quarterly revenue dropped 2.3% to $13.6 billion, hit by weaker residential video sales and a slump in political advertising, the company reported. Residential connectivity revenue, however, climbed 2.3%. The total missed analysts’ average estimate of $13.73 billion, based on LSEG data. For the fourth quarter, Charter posted net income attributable to shareholders of $1.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA—a measure of operating profit excluding interest, taxes, and depreciation—of $5.7 billion.
Cash stayed the company’s safety net. Charter posted full-year free cash flow—cash left after capital expenses—of $5.0 billion, climbing from $4.3 billion the previous year. The company also repurchased roughly $5.4 billion in stock and units in 2025. It expects capital spending to come in around $11.4 billion in 2026, a slight dip from $11.7 billion in 2025.
Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S., revealed on Thursday that it lost 181,000 broadband customers in Q4 and won’t be hiking broadband prices this year as it reworks its bundles. On the flip side, AT&T reported gaining 283,000 fiber customers in the same quarter, driven by faster fixed-line services and wireless discounts.
Charter’s core broadband subscriber numbers continue to decline, and the company missed some expectations. “It will likely be some time before we see a meaningful turnaround in Charter’s broadband subscriber trends,” said New Street Research analyst Vikash Harlalka, citing tough price competition, fixed wireless options, and ongoing fiber expansions that are driving high churn.
