Charter Communications, Inc.

Second-quarter consolidated revenue was down 1.7% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA declined 4.3% year over year, or 3.2% excluding Cox transition expenses. Net income attributable to Charter shareholders was $1.3 billion, essentially flat year over year, and second-quarter free cash flow was $1 billion, about $75 million lower than last year. Internet customers fell by 172,000, mobile lines rose by 406,000, and video customers declined by 21,000. Capital expenditures were $2.9 billion, and full-year 2026 standalone Charter capex is expected to be approximately $11.4 billion; full-year 2026 standalone Charter EBITDA, excluding transition costs, is expected to decline around 1% year over year. Management said broadband ARPU should improve sequentially in Q3, and the back half should benefit from political advertising, cost pass-throughs and efficiency initiatives.

Chris Winfrey framed the quarter as one where mobile, video improvement and future cash flow generation are offsetting near-term broadband pressure. He said Charter is focused on improving the Internet funnel, bundling mobile and video to reduce churn, and using better pricing, service and NPS to return broadband growth over time. He was bullish on the Cox acquisition as a way to accelerate growth, expand bundling and B2B opportunities, and deepen the company’s converged footprint, while also emphasizing AI/network infrastructure potential.

Jessica Fischer emphasized that standalone Charter’s financial results were held back by broadband softness, more aggressive retention offers, and some controllable cost pressure such as fuel and medical. She cited $65 million of Cox transition expenses in the quarter, $2.9 billion of capex, $1 billion of free cash flow, $101 million of cash taxes, and $94 billion of debt principal; net debt to last-12-month EBITDA was 4.18x, or 4.21x pro forma for Liberty Broadband. She also highlighted the company’s deleveraging plan, including a capped exchange offer targeting $20 billion of discounted investment-grade debt, and said the company expects to restart share repurchases in Q4 after pausing them through Q3.

Analysts pressed on broadband ARPU, wireless offload, Starlink, Cox trends, and whether Charter might support or partner on any new wireless build. Management said broadband ARPU should improve sequentially in Q3 as retention offers normalize and the Internet cost pass-through begins, while Chris said Charter does not want to focus the business on product ARPU at the expense of growth. On wireless offload, management said Charter is at about 87% to 88% offload today and expects to move back up with WiFi and CBRS, but it has no current plans to build a new network or spend outside its existing capex trajectory; on Cox, they said trends are a bit weaker than Charter’s but not dramatically different and that the Spectrum playbook will be applied quickly after close.