In Depth

Cox, Charter Quietly Joining the HD Fray

With about half as many high-definition channels as satellite TV leaders DirecTV and Dish Network, cable providers Cox Communications and Charter Communications are still maintaining their subscription base and sales largely by boosting the number of HD subscribers.

Cox and Charter, the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. cable TV services behind Comcast and Time Warner Cable, both said this week that they increased video services revenue at least partially by having more high-definition subscribers.

In addition to the satellite companies, the cable companies’ apparent resilience comes amid more competition from fiber-optic television services. Verizon’s FiOS subscriber base surpassed 1 million this year; AT&T’s U-verse is expected to do the same later this year. Like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, Cox and Charter have bandwidth restrictions that don’t affect satellite and fiber-optic operators, keeping their HD channel inventory to between 40 and 50.

Charter increased first-quarter revenue 10% to $1.56 billion as digital video and advanced services such as high-definition programming helped boost video sales. The company also maintained its subscriber base of 5.6 million from a year ago. Like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, Charter showed its biggest gains in high-speed Internet and telephone services, but still had a 2.4% rise in video sales.

“Customers with HD and DVR service increased 50% year-over-year,” Charter CEO Neil Smit said on a conference call this week.

Closely held Cox, with 6.2 million subscribers, said this week its HD subscriber base also grew by more than 50% from a year earlier. The company said it will launch new services from Lifetime Networks, including Lifetime Television HD, Lifetime Movie Network HD, Lifetime on Demand and Lifetime Movie Network on Demand.

Cox will begin rolling out Lifetime HD to subscribers in June.

Leave a comment

Comments 14

user-pic

You should consider giving a suggestion of other posts for people who like this. I discovered your blog two days ago while browsing, unfortuneatly I'm not really into the blog scene. I don't think it's because I don't like blogs, but just due to the fact that I'm a bit ignorant to them.

user-pic

Excellent job.

user-pic

High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

user-pic

I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it's rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. :)

user-pic

I agree with your thoughts here and I really love your blog! I've bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future.

user-pic

Great wordpress blog here.. It's hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

user-pic

All women are very fashion conscious, but not all women have to spend a lot of money lavishly. This is probably why most of these women are reluctant to buy Replica Inspired Handbags with all the hard earned money is. This leads them to places like China Town in New York or at local newsstands, while others try their luck at house parties and looking for a designer bag, may cost less.

user-pic

Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

user-pic

Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

user-pic

Hi. First of all - wonderful blog! Secondly this article was also good and interesting to read, but I don't think everything you have said is how it is in reality. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for trying and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren't English native speaker.

user-pic

A woman generally has about 10 purses, the other relevant for a reason. These Wholesale Handmade Handbags are available in various colors and designs available according to their clothes! Today, the most modern trends are on the bag. He came almost to the list of must-have accessory for all women.

user-pic

Hello. First of all - great blog! Secondly this article was also good and interesting to read, but I don't think everything you have said is how it is in reality. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for the great effort and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren't English native speaker.

user-pic

Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

user-pic

Great wordpress blog here.. It's hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon