The cable TV business appears to be good. Time Warner Cable announced that it has increased its quarterly dividend by 20%. That came as the company reported that 2010 operating income was up 11%, earnings per share grew 19% and the MSO produced record free cash flow.
The new, higher dividend of 48 cents per share will be paid March 15th to shareholders of record on February 28th. On an annualized basis, the cash dividend is now $1.92 per share.
Q4 revenues increased 5.9% to $4.8 billion. Subscription revenues grew 4.6% to $4.5 billion, driven by a 3.5% increase in residential subscription revenues and a 23.0% increase in commercial subscription revenues. Advertising revenues increased 33.8% to $269 million.
Full-year 2010 revenues increased 5.6% to $18.9 billion. Subscription revenues grew 4.8% to $18.0 billion, with residential subscription revenues increasing 3.9% and commercial subscription revenues growing 21.1%. Advertising revenues increased 25.5% to $881 million.
RBR-TVBR observation: Whaddaya know, paying broadcast TV stations for the most-watched programming on their systems doesn’t seem to be damaging the cable TV business model.
