Spectrum, which is owned by Charter Communications, continues to lose customers at a rapid rate, despite recent efforts to slow the alarming trend.
Spectrum lost 70,000 cable customers in the third quarter of this year, according to Charter’s latest earnings report. The decline comes as many consumers across the country are turning to streaming services, which allow consumers to watch TV shows and movies for a lower monthly price than traditional cable.
Spektras also lost a whopping 109,000 internet customers in the quarter after phasing out internet prices last year, disappointing customers.
The loss of cable and internet customers comes after a “new and simplified pricing strategy” was implemented last September. This strategy offers customers Internet for a starting price of $30 per month when bundled with cellular or video services. Internet service pricing plans also come with a warranty of up to three years.
Spectrum also recently updated its video packages to include $100+ worth of streaming apps like HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu and Peacock at no additional cost. The move is intended to help Spectrum retain not only cable but also internet customers.
October 31 In an earnings call last week, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey attributed the lack of growth and loss of online customers to several factors. First, he noted the current challenges in the US housing market.
“We have a really quiet housing environment,” Winfrey said. “There is slow household formation and little movement.”
From 2022 the average 30-year mortgage rate in the US has remained above 6%, causing many consumers to delay purchasing new homes as affordability declines. However, the housing market has recently taken a small positive turn.
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The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in September was 6.35%down from 6.59% in August.
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Selling existing homes increased by 1.5 percent. in September
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Specifically, US home sales per month a rose in the northeast, south and west, meanwhile entering the Midwest.
Sources: National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac
“Inventories are at a five-year high, although they remain below pre-COVID levels,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a news release.
Winfrey also said that fixed wireless (5G home Internet), which provides Internet access in remote or underserved areas at a typically lower cost than traditional Internet service, is a growing threat affecting Spectrum’s business.
While phone carriers such as T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T offer the service, Winfrey said AT&T is particularly rapidly expanding its home Internet footprint, making it a major competitor.
“Competitively, mobile Internet, especially AT&T, is expanding its footprint,” Winfrey said. “There’s no secret. Some others have different results in terms of fixed wireless access or mobile Internet, but AT&T is the newbie in this space, expanding coverage. Look at our overlap with the 1 gigabit or more competition, it’s grown.”
Related: Spectrum unveils bold new offer as cable customers flee
AT&T’s Internet business is indeed gaining popularity among consumers. During the third quarter of this year, AT&T added 270,000 new AT&T Internet Air (fixed wireless) customers and added 288,000 AT&T Fiber Internet customers, according to its latest earnings report.
It’s no wonder consumers across the country are flocking to AT&T and other fixed wireless providers. Many traditional Internet providers have raised the prices of their services over the past year, and consumers across the country are frustrated by the increased monthly bills.
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About 43% of users indicated the price of their Internet services has grown the most 2024 compared to other household services.
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The average increase in Internet service prices was $20.78 per month.
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In addition, 59% reported feelings misled according to pricing or terms your internet plan.
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Almost 3 out of 4 people cancelled, reducedor assumed switching internet providers due to high prices.
Source: Reviews.org
“While 5G home Internet isn’t technically faster than wired or fiber-optic Internet, it offers a lot of value,” Peter Holslin, managing editor of Reviews.org, said in the survey. “5G internet packages are usually sold at fixed rates, with no additional installation or equipment fees, and you often get other perks like unlimited data and bundle discounts when you bundle it with a mobile phone plan from the same provider.
On the earnings call, Winfrey emphasized that Spectrum is more concerned about increased competition than increased interest.
“The challenge we’re facing right now is not so much on the decline side, although I think there’s a real possibility where it will continue to improve,” Winfrey said. “Our challenge is the operating environment. It remains competitive with new competitors and a macro environment that has not improved.”
Winfrey shared that Spectrum has made several changes to discourage customers from switching to competitors. All changes are designed to improve the customer experience.
He said Spectrum has implemented the use of artificial intelligence to “identify and resolve service issues before they occur” and improve customer interactions. It has also invested in providing faster responses to customer service requests.
“For service visits, we’re moving the internal standard to your doorstep within two hours of a service call, and we’re now available most of the time, all of which helps improve brand awareness,” Winfrey said.
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Winfrey also said the company will continue to run the phone, Internet and cable TV service packages that have been successful in attracting customers.
“Our goal is to ensure that we have a unique and differentiated product that we can deliver to our connectivity customers in a way that creates new ways of marketing and customer acquisition and has retention value and has value and utility for them,” he said. “To the extent that the broadband customer wants and appreciates it, we’ll tie it to the relationship. If they don’t want it, we won’t. We’ll just rely on the value of maintaining the convergence of Internet and mobile. It’s going well, but it’s still very early days.”
Despite the company’s doubling of customer retention, Winfrey said Spectrum won’t shy away from raising prices in the future.
“When you look at the spectrum pricing and packaging that we put in place last year, our ARPU and prices today are low compared to peers and competitors,” he said. “That’s why we’ve always had, as you pointed out, probably a little bit more headroom than others. Given this macroeconomic environment, we can’t help but increase costs when they occur. That’s especially true for video. I wish it were different, but that’s the economic reality.”
Related: AT&T suffers troubling customer problem
This story was originally reported by TheStreet in 2025. on November 5, where it first appeared in the retail section. Add TheStreet as a preferred source by clicking here.