Charter Announces Third Quarter 2025 Results

Core Insights - Charter Communications reported its financial and operational results for Q3 2025, highlighting a competitive environment and a focus on free cash flow growth for shareholder value creation [2][4]. Financial Performance - Total revenue for Q3 2025 was $13.7 billion, a decline of 0.9% year-over-year, primarily due to lower residential video and advertising sales revenues, partially offset by growth in residential connectivity revenue [4][14]. - Net income attributable to Charter shareholders was $1.1 billion, down 11.2% from the previous year [4][25]. - Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $5.6 billion, a decrease of 1.5% year-over-year [4][27]. - Free cash flow remained consistent at $1.6 billion, supported by lower cash taxes and favorable working capital [4][31]. Customer Metrics - As of September 30, 2025, Charter had approximately 31.1 million customer relationships, a decrease of 2.0% year-over-year [3][4]. - Total Internet customers declined by 109,000 in Q3 2025, with a total of 29.8 million Internet customers served [4][9]. - Mobile lines increased by 493,000, totaling 11.4 million mobile lines as of the end of Q3 2025 [4][6]. - Video customers decreased by 70,000, with a total of 12.6 million video customers [4][7]. Revenue Breakdown - Internet revenue grew by 1.7% year-over-year to $6.0 billion, driven by promotional rate step-ups and rate adjustments [4][16]. - Mobile service revenue increased by 19.2% year-over-year to $954 million, attributed to mobile line growth [4][16]. - Video revenue decreased by 9.3% to $3.4 billion, impacted by a decline in video customers and a higher mix of lower-priced video packages [4][17]. - Voice revenue fell by 7.9% to $332 million, reflecting a decline in wireline voice customers [4][18]. Operating Costs - Total operating costs and expenses decreased by 0.5% year-over-year to $8.1 billion, with programming costs down 6.5% due to fewer video customers [4][22]. - Marketing and residential sales expenses increased by 5.4% year-over-year, reflecting a shift to higher-cost sales channels [4][24]. Capital Expenditures - Capital expenditures for Q3 2025 totaled $3.1 billion, an increase of 19.0% year-over-year, driven by network evolution and infrastructure spending [4][28]. - The company expects full-year 2025 capital expenditures to be approximately $11.5 billion [4][29]. Shareholder Actions - During Q3 2025, Charter repurchased 7.6 million shares for $2.2 billion [4][35].