Charter Says Spectrum Streaming Bundle Helped Slow Video Losses as Reported Video Revenue Fell 9.7%
Jul 24, 2026Charter Says Spectrum Streaming Bundle Helped Slow Video Losses as Reported Video Revenue Fell 9.7%
Charter Communications lost 21,000 video customers during the second quarter of 2026, compared with 80,000 during the same quarter last year.
The company said simplified pricing and packaging, along with the streaming services included in its Spectrum video plans, helped slow those losses.
Charter ended June with 12.5 million video customers, down 107,000 from a year earlier.
The results suggest that combining traditional television with a large package of streaming services may be helping Charter retain more video customers. Reported video revenue, however, fell 9.7%, from $3.49 billion to $3.15 billion.
Spectrum Builds Streaming Into Its Video Plans
Spectrum TV Select customers now receive ad-supported access to Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock, AMC+, ViX, Tennis Channel, Fox One and Discovery+.
Charter estimates the combined retail value at up to approximately $127 a month. The services are included at no additional charge.
Customers can activate, manage and upgrade the services through the Spectrum App Store. Charter also began offering ad-supported and ad-free Netflix subscriptions for separate purchase through the app store in June.
The approach gives Spectrum customers one place to manage traditional television and streaming subscriptions. It may also give them another reason to keep their Spectrum video plan as viewing habits continue to change.
Charter directly connected its improved customer results to its pricing, packaging and included streaming applications. However, the company did not disclose how many customers activated or used the individual services.
Video Revenue Falls as Streaming-App Costs Rise
Charter attributed the 9.7% decline in reported video revenue to a greater share of customers using lower-priced packages, fewer video customers, less favorable allocation of bundled revenue and the way it records costs associated with the included streaming applications. Promotional price increases and rate adjustments partly offset the decline.
The company recorded $251 million in programmer streaming-app costs against video revenue during the quarter, up from $67 million a year earlier. That $184 million increase accounted for more than half of the $339 million year-over-year decline in reported video revenue.
Charter also reported programming expenses of $2.04 billion, down $218 million, or 9.7%. That doesn’t mean its programmer-related costs fell by the same amount.
Most of the reported decrease reflects where Charter recorded the streaming-app costs. The company deducted those costs from video revenue rather than including them in programming expenses.
Charter said fewer video customers and greater use of lower-cost packages also reduced programming expenses. Contractual programming-rate increases partly offset those reductions.
Charter’s total second-quarter revenue fell 1.7% to $13.53 billion. The company said lower residential video revenue was the primary reason for the decline.
Insider Take
Charter’s results show why customer losses alone can’t tell us whether a bundle is working.
The company says simplified packaging and included streaming services helped reduce quarterly video losses from 80,000 to 21,000. That’s a meaningful improvement.
Streaming-app costs also rose from $67 million to $251 million. Because Charter records those costs against video revenue, the reported 9.7% revenue decline doesn’t tell us on its own how the bundle affected margins.
We also don’t know how many customers activated the included services or whether they’re using them.
The bundle may be helping Charter keep more video customers. The next question is what those retained relationships are worth.
For subscription leaders, retention is one measure. You also need to know what retained customers pay and what it costs to serve them.