Time Warner Cable Inc, which recently rejected a takeover offer from Charter Communications Inc, posted better-than-expected quarterly results as its high-speed data subscribers opted for expensive plans.
In the fourth quarter, the U.S. cable operator added 39,000 net residential Internet subscribers, a turnaround from a weak third quarter when it lost 24,000 subscribers.
The company said residential subscriber activity improved sequentially each month in the quarter and continued to improve in January.
Cable operators in the United States are increasingly depending on Internet customers for growth as they face rising programming costs and continue to lose cable TV subscribers to telecom and satellite companies.
Time Warner Cable, which ranks second to Comcast Corp in the U.S. cable market, has attracted takeover interest from John Malone‘s Liberty Media Corp, the largest investor in Charter.
Net income attributable to Time Warner Cable rose 5 percent to $540 million, or $1.89 per share, in the fourth quarter, from $513 million, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose about 2 percent to $5.58 billion. The company said it lost 217,000 residential video customers in the quarter.
Analysts on average expected earnings of $1.73 per share on revenue of $5.56 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Shares of the company closed at $132.10 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
