**Editor's Note: Be sure to check out the V2M exclusive Report, "True Contenders: Cable MSOs and Business Communications Services, " which takes an in-depth look at the emerging battle lines being drawn between cable operators and their rivals in the business services market, and the technological and competitive strategies MSOs are employing to win.**
Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable TV operator, narrowed its video subscriber losses in the third quarter but the results still weren't stellar.
The Philadelphia-based TV and Internet giant lost 165,000 video customers, down from 275,000 subscriber losses in the year-ago quarter, to end Sept. 30 with 22,360 cable TV customers. Over the first nine months of 2011, Comcast has lost 443,000 video subscribers, marking an improvement from 622,000 customer losses in the same period in 2010.
The good news is that Comcast has been adding voice and Internet customers. In the third quarter, the company wooed 261,000 high-speed Internet subscribers and 133,000 voice customers.
Comcast ended the period with 49.4 million video, voice and high-speed Internet customers as its combined customer count rose 13.4 percent or by 229,000 customers over the third quarter of 2010.
Revenues climbed 51.1 percent year over year to $14.34 billion, thanks partly to Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal, as earnings per share ($0.33) rose 6.5 percent from $0.31 in the year-ago quarter.
