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Charter Communications lost 70,000 pay-TV subscribers in the third quarter of 2025, a significant slowdown in user decline compared to the 294,000 lost during the same period last year. But while the bleeding has eased on TV, the company continues to lose broadband customers and struggles to meet revenue expectations.
TV and broadband: fewer losses, but the trend continues
In terms of numbers, Charter reported a loss of 64,000 residential TV subscribers and 6,000 business accounts between July and September. That brings the company’s total pay-TV customer base to 12.5 million, a 3.5 percent decline compared to the 13 million tallied in Q3 2024. While that still stings, it’s far less dramatic than the company’s performance a year ago.
On the broadband side, the slowdown was less encouraging. The provider reported a net loss of 109,000 broadband users, nearly identical to the 110,000 customers lost during the same period last year. Internet is often the last service consumers keep when cutting costs, so seeing stagnation here is a bit more worrying.
To put it plainly, the storm hasn’t passed, but it’s not getting worse—for now. To read Gwen Stefani headlines magical 2025 Disney Christmas Parade
Revenues pulled down by legacy TV and ads
Charter posted $13.67 billion in revenue for the quarter, just under the $13.74 billion expected by analysts (according to Zacks Consensus Estimate). That’s a 1 percent dip compared to the same period last year. The culprits? Declining revenue from residential video services and advertising.
There’s some light on the horizon, though. Charter’s gains in mobile and internet offerings helped to cushion the blow. Like many traditional providers, the company is banking on its newer services to keep revenue from sliding further. But those gains weren’t enough to offset the video and ad declines.
Personally, I’ve always found this shift fascinating. Cable giants once ruled the entertainment landscape. Now, they’re chasing the digital tide their own model helped unleash.
A customer base in transition
As of the end of Q3, Charter totaled 31.1 million customers, not including users who only subscribe to the company’s mobile plans. While that sounds impressive on paper, it’s important to see how these customers are distributed—and what services they actually use.
There was a time when pay-TV was the foundation of Charter’s customer base. Today, that foundation is cracking, with more and more users turning to streaming platforms. If anything, this period marks a quiet passing of the torch—from old cable bundles to a more fragmented, digital-first media world. To read Toho expands into Europe with bold anime distribution moves
A major move on the horizon: Charter and Cox to merge
All these shifts in numbers and revenue are unfolding as Charter prepares for a massive transformation. In May 2025, the company announced a $34.5 billion merger deal with Cox Communications. The aim? To create a bigger, more competitive cable and broadband player capable of challenging tech giants in both content and advertising.
On paper, this move makes sense. Alone, neither company can keep pace with behemoths like Netflix, Google, or Amazon when it comes to video reach or ad targeting. Together, they hope to become more than just the sum of their parts.
Here’s what the merger aims to achieve:
- Expand the combined footprint of cable and internet services nationwide
- Leverage shared infrastructure to lower costs and improve efficiency
- Create more negotiating power in acquiring video content
- Compete more aggressively in digital advertising markets
Still, as always with these mega-mergers, success depends on execution—and how quickly they can unify cultures, systems, and strategies.
From my point of view, this could be a bold new chapter, or just another reshuffling of an aging industry. I want to believe in the reinvention. But to make it work, Charter and Cox will need more than scale—they’ll need vision.
