Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt appears to be having a pretty good week. Fresh from yesterday’s multi-year agreement with Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), the company swung to a Q4 profit and even saw revenues inch up nicely. The deal with Scripps Networks came a week after the programmer of Food Network and HGTV was able to agree on a new contract with Cablevision (NYSE: CVC). While Scripps Networks’ shows were off Cablevision for a few weeks after previous contract expired Dec. 31, TWC’s dispute didn’t go that far and the cable operator didn’t suffer the programming blackout Cablevision did. So with that squared away, TWC can concentrate on other matters, such as maintaining subscription growth in the face of challenges by the likes of Verizon FiOS.
Overall, TWC did pretty well on the subscription front. The cable operator added 101,000 subs in Q4, bringing the total to 26.4 million. Like most of its competitors, the recession is appears to be benefiting cable lately, as more people opt for home entertainment. In TWC’s case, home subscription revenues were up slightly, while commercial subs climbed significantly. Either way, that hasn’t necessarily translated into higher advertising revenues.
Specifically, TWC said subscription revs grew 4.2 percent year-over-year to $4.3 billion, driven by a 3.6 percent increase in residential sub dollars and a 14.1 percent increase in revenue from commercial subs. Ad revenues declined 17.6 percent to $201 million, suggesting that the recession is a double edged sword for the cable companies.

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