Charter’s September carriage dispute with Disney had a significant impact on the company’s bottom line in the third quarter of 2023.
In Charter’s third-quarter earnings, the company noted it lost 320,000 video customers, up from 189,000 in the second quarter and 211,000 in the third quarter a year ago. That’s an increase of over 50% compared to either quarter.
Revenue from video customers also declined compared to both the last quarter and last year. While Charter still brought in $4.0 billion over the quarter, that’s down from $4.2 billion in the second quarter and a slide of 8.6% compared to the third quarter of 2022.
Charter also notes that it dispersed $68 million in credits to customers during the Disney carriage dispute, which lasted less than two weeks.
Echoing what she said in September, Charter CFO Jessica Fisher said the Disney dispute affected the company “less than we expected.”
“The overall impact to customer relationships was less than we expected, facilitated in part by the wide availability of over-the-top alternatives,” Fisher said on the earnings call.
Once the dispute was resolved, Fisher called subscriber losses “much less than what we anticipated.”
Internet subscriber growth slowed, but was still positive, in the quarter. Residential internet customers increased by 57,000 in the third quarter, compared to 70,000 in the second quarter and 61,000 a year ago. Revenue on the internet side increased 3.7% compared to last year up to $5.8 billion, compared to $5.7 billion in the second quarter.
Ultimately, Charter did take a hit to its subscriber base due to the Disney dispute, but considering how much doom and gloom there was over the days Disney networks were dark, it could have been a lot worse.
