With its $17.7 billion purchase by Dutch telecom company Altice nearing a close, Cablevision said it added 9,000 customer relationships in the first quarter, it's best first quarter turnout in that metric since 2012, fueled mainly by growth in broadband customers.
Cablevision lost about 15,000 video customers in the period -- nearly half the 28,000 it lost in the same period last year -- and added 19,000 high-speed Internet customers. Phone subscribers declined by 8,000 on the period.
The subscriber losses beat analyst consensus estimates of a deficit of 19,000 video customers. Cablevision also outpaced analysts' predictions for earnings per share and AOCF.
Overall revenue was up 1.6% and adjusted operating cash flow rose 5.6% in the period. At its cable operations, revenue rose 2% and AOCF was up 5.7%.
The Federal Communications Commission approved the merger with Altice earlier this week. The New York State Public Service Commission is expected to give its bid up the deal later this month.
"Cablevision had an excellent first quarter," CEO James Dolan said in a statement. "The company continued to build momentum with solid improvements in service quality and subscriber growth, and achieved the best first quarter performance in customer relationships since 2012. The transformation of the Optimum experience over the past three years reflects the success of our management team and employees in providing the best products, services and experience to our customers. In addition, we are moving full speed ahead towards the completion of our transaction with Altice, and are proceeding through the regulatory process as expected."
