Charter reports continued mobile line growth, though broadband and EBITDA trends remained under pressure.
Stock Earnings Results
July 24, 2026
Table of Contents
July 24, 2026
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) reported second-quarter 2026 results with lower revenue, fewer internet customers, lower adjusted EBITDA, and weaker free cash flow, though mobile lines continued to grow and operating cash flow improved.
Charter operates the Spectrum brand, offering internet, mobile, video, voice, advertising, and business connectivity services across residential, small business, and commercial markets.
Revenue declined 1.7% year-over-year to $13.53 billion.
Net income attributable to Charter shareholders was $1.29 billion, compared with $1.30 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA declined 4.3% to $5.45 billion.
Excluding transition expenses tied to the Cox transaction, adjusted EBITDA declined 3.2%.
Free cash flow declined to $969 million from $1.05 billion a year earlier.
Net cash flows from operating activities increased to $3.93 billion from $3.60 billion.
Spectrum Internet customers declined by 172,000 during the quarter.
Charter ended the quarter with 29.4 million internet customers.
Total connectivity customers declined by 145,000 in the quarter and ended at 30.4 million.
Customer relationships declined by 184,000 during the quarter and totaled 31.5 million at quarter-end.
Management said the company continues to operate in a competitive environment across its products.
Spectrum Mobile lines increased by 406,000 during the quarter.
Mobile lines increased by 1.7 million over the last 12 months.
Charter ended the quarter with 12.5 million mobile lines.
Mobile service revenue increased 18.9% year-over-year to $1.10 billion.
The continued growth in mobile remains central to Charter’s converged connectivity strategy, as the company uses internet and mobile bundles to compete more aggressively with wireless and broadband providers.
Video customers declined by 21,000 in the second quarter.
That was better than the decline of 80,000 video customers in the prior-year quarter.
Charter ended the quarter with 12.5 million video customers.
Video revenue declined 9.7% to $3.15 billion, driven by lower-priced video packages, streaming app cost allocations netted within video revenue, bundled revenue allocation, and fewer video customers.
Internet revenue declined 3.2% to $5.78 billion.
Residential revenue declined 3.5% to $10.35 billion.
Commercial revenue increased 1.5% to $1.87 billion.
Advertising sales revenue increased 12.3% to $416 million, helped by higher political revenue.
Other revenue increased 7.1% to $894 million, mainly driven by higher mobile device sales.
Capital expenditures were $2.87 billion, roughly in line with the prior-year quarter.
Charter continues to expect full-year 2026 capital expenditures of about $11.4 billion, excluding the impact of the Cox transaction.
As of June 30, Charter had $93.8 billion of total principal debt and $509 million in cash.
The company also had about $3.7 billion of additional liquidity through its credit facilities.
Charter repurchased 4.0 million shares of Class A common stock for $838 million during the quarter.
The company also purchased $1.2 billion in aggregate principal amount of Charter Communications Operating and CCO Holdings notes for $1.0 billion in cash.
The debt repurchase contributed to a gain on extinguishment of debt, helping offset lower adjusted EBITDA in net income.
Charter’s quarter showed the trade-off in its current strategy.
Mobile lines continued to grow, video customer losses improved, operating cash flow increased, and the company kept returning capital through buybacks. At the same time, internet customers declined, total revenue fell, adjusted EBITDA moved lower, and free cash flow weakened.
The key question is whether Charter can use mobile, network upgrades, pricing changes, and the planned Cox integration to stabilize customer relationships and return to revenue growth.
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