Charter Communications Inc Q4 2024 Earnings Call Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Jonathan Chaplin - New Street Research - Analyst : Thanks guys. A question on CapEx. So I'm wondering if you can just remind us what the end state is for the network upgrade in terms of -- I think it's 100% of the footprint will have a high split and then a portion of the footprint will be upgraded to DOCSIS 4.0 by the end of 2027. Can you remind us how that -- what that is, and how it is changed based on the new guidance? And then for line extension CapEx, I see that the total spend is down, but the number of rural locations is up. Have you reduced the pace of line extensions that you expect to build in non-rural locations? Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 31, 2025 / 1:30PM, CHTR.OQ - Q4 2024 Charter Communications Inc Earnings Call

Question: Jonathan Chaplin - New Street Research - Analyst : And Chris, I assume that 35% ultimately goes to 100% at 1.8 over time. The assumption is that, that all happens within business as usual CapEx of less than $8 billion.

Question: Jonathan Chaplin - New Street Research - Analyst : Got it. Thanks guys. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 31, 2025 / 1:30PM, CHTR.OQ - Q4 2024 Charter Communications Inc Earnings Call

Question: Benjamin Swinburne - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Good morning. You had -- I think it's about 450,000 ACP related subscriber losses or impact in '24. I'm just wondering if you guys are thinking you can grow -- you can improve your broadband results in '25 versus '24 when you consider no ACP, obviously storms are a wildcard, but you'll have more and more rural footprint behind you. And then, Chris, I can't remember the last time your video subscriber numbers outperformed both customer metrics and broadband metrics. It sounds like you guys are maybe selling into the base a bit and subsidizing that with some broadband. Maybe you could talk a little bit about what's happening inside of your offers, and inside the business that's creating this kind of mix shift, and how we might think about that as we move forward. Thanks so much.

Question: Benjamin Swinburne - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Thanks so much.

Question: Craig Moffett - MoffettNathanson - Analyst : Hi. I'm going to try to squeeze in two questions. First, just given the importance of your wireless bundling strategy, I'm going to leave aside the comments that you just had about video, can you point to real evidence of what wireless is doing for your broadband business? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 31, 2025 / 1:30PM, CHTR.OQ - Q4 2024 Charter Communications Inc Earnings Call And the way that you think about whether it's through churn or something else, that suggests that the convergent strategy is having a meaningful impact. It's obviously topical because Comcast essentially said they're going to try to emulate the strategy that you've already been pursuing for a couple of years. And then also on the topic of Comcast, you mentioned organic growth opportunities. I have to ask because we get the question so often. How do you think about inorganic growth opportunities? And with the commentary so frequently being discussed about the possibility of combining with Comcast, how do you think about getting bigger as a cable operator?

Question: Sebastiano Petti - JP Morgan - Analyst : Thank you for taking the question. If perhaps, Jessica, you could comment just around EBITDA, you do expect growth for the year. Any color perhaps OpEx level across the different buckets that we should be assuming? Obviously, as Spectrum Life Unlimited ramps, and what you and Chris have talked about, creates more attach opportunities, there's probably sales and market costs that come with that. So just maybe trying to frame that a little bit would be helpful against the backdrop as well of improving costs that you implemented in 2024. And then maybe just thinking about the CapEx guide. Obviously, it was helpful, does not include bead -- limited BEAD appetite per se. But maybe how you're thinking about any changes to tax policy, should we get an extension of bonus depreciation? How would REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 31, 2025 / 1:30PM, CHTR.OQ - Q4 2024 Charter Communications Inc Earnings Call you perhaps maybe think about that across the buckets of shareholder returns versus maybe improving or accelerating some of your network efforts? Thank you very much.

Question: Jessica Reif Ehrlich - BofA Securities - Analyst : Thank you. I guess on LA, I know you said you'd be more specific on the first quarter call. But is there any early read that you can give -- I don't know what you're assuming for homes coming back, but it is a step -- a multiyear step down? And then a follow-up for both video and M&A, the video seems to be working before you were even marketing. Can you give us some color on what your marketing plans are for what is clear value for customers? And then on M&A, Chris, you made a remark at the beginning about national and global competition. So can you just talk about like how you would compete with more national competitors, what you -- what benefits you would get? Is it all with cost or revenue? Any color you can give?

Question: Jessica Reif Ehrlich - BofA Securities - Analyst : Thank you.

Question: Kutgun Maral - Evercore ISI - Analyst : Good morning and thanks for taking the questions. Just a follow-up on the M&A discussion from a different lens and maybe focus on wireless. You've scaled their mobile efforts quite meaningfully. And I know that you've had a lot of success with migrating traffic onto your own network. But as that business grows and perhaps Comcast also ramped, is there a change to your view on whether owners' economics would make more sense on a standalone basis or through a partnership? I just wanted to revisit the pie the coming pushback that we get on your mobile and convergence efforts is that your margins there and the opportunity more broadly are naturally limited because of the (inaudible) relationship, and therefore, you just don't get as much credit on the success that you've had. So would appreciate your perspective. And just a quick one on rural. The new passings have continued to pick up sequentially, but customer and ads were flattish. Can you just help us think about penetration trends over there? And as your new passings (inaudible) accelerates around 450,000 in 2025, should we still assume that rural sub net adds will also accelerate? Or are there other nuances that we should be mindful of? Thank you.

Question: Kutgun Maral - Evercore ISI - Analyst : That's good to know.