Charter Comm. 3Q Loss Narrows, Sales Uup

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) said Tuesday that its third-quarter loss narrowed, helped by contributions from an acquisition this summer and higher revenue from its cable TV business.

Revenue from the company’s pay TV services rose 15 percent to $1.04 billion, while revenue from high-speed Internet subscribers jumped 23 percent to $575 million. Revenue from phone services fell 23 percent to $161 million.

Charter posted a loss of $70 million, or 68 cents per share, compared with a loss of $87 million, or 87 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $2.12 billion from $1.88 billion, with a big boost from the acquisition of Cablevision’s Bresnan Broadband unit in July. Excluding the acquisition, revenue grew 5 percent.

Analysts, on average, expected profit of 8 cents per share on $2.11 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

STOCK: Dow $5.15, or 3.8 percent, to $130.62 in morning trading.