Mediacom 4Q Up; Basic Subs Drop
By Karen Brown -- Multichannel News, 2/24/2003 7:43:00 AM
Mediacom Communications Corp. fell into a familiar cable pattern for the fourth quarter of 2002, with healthy increases for digital cable and high-speed data but dwindling basic-cable-subscriber numbers.
Mediacom saw fourth-quarter revenues rise 12.5 percent to $239 million compared with $212.4 million in the same quarter in 2001.
Operating income totaled $4.5 million for the quarter versus an operating loss of $33.6 million in the prior fourth quarter.
Net loss, meanwhile, dropped from $88.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2001 to $49 million in 2002, equaling a loss of 41 cents per basic and deluded share.
As with other cable operators, Mediacom did see a drop in cable subscribers in the quarter. Adjusting for the 3,000 basic subscribers it acquired from AT&T Broadband in the first quarter of 2002, the company saw its entry-level cable-TV count drop 0.4 percent to 1.592 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2001.
That was offset by gains in digital-cable subscribers, with 23,000 new accounts added in the quarter. Year over year, digital-cable subscribers increased 15.6 percent to 371,000. The high-speed-data business was equally healthy, with 24,000 new cable-modem subscribers added in the fourth quarter for a total of 191,000. That's a 66.1 percent increase year over year.
For the full year, revenues rose 10.7 percent, totaling $923 million compared with $585.2 million in 2001.
Operating income also went into the black, totaling $51.8 million versus a $62.5 million loss in the prior year. But that was mostly offset by an increase in interest expense related to its now-$3 billion debt load.
Interest payments rose from $139.9 million to $188.3 million due to higher average debt levels from the 2001 AT&T Broadband cable acquisitions and plant upgrades. There was also an added $11.1 million in other expenses.
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
