Charter Communications Loss Widens

U.S. cable company Charter Communications Inc <CHTR.O> reported a bigger quarterly loss, hurt by costs related to debt extinguishment and the failed deal between Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> and Time Warner Cable Inc <TWC.N>.

Charter's deal to buy some assets of Time Warner Cable fell through after U.S. regulators refused to clear Comcast's $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable.

The company also continued to lose customers in its video business in the second quarter. Its net residential video customer losses rose to 33,000 from 29,000, a year earlier.

Cable companies have been struggling with declining subscriber numbers as viewers shift to cheaper and more flexible streaming services offered by Netflix Inc <NFLX.O>, Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, Hulu and others.

Charter's net loss widened to $122 million, or $1.09 per share, in the quarter ended June 30 from $45 million, or 42 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company took a $128 million loss on debt extinguishment and $45 million in costs related to the Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks LLC deals.

Revenue rose 7.6 percent to $2.43 billion.

Charter also said in May that it would buy Time Warner Cable in a cash-and-stock deal, which values Time Warner Cable at $78.7 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Charter shares were little changed at $188.43 in early trading on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Lehar Maan in Bengaluru and Ankit Ajmera; Editing by Ted Kerr and Kirti Pandey)