Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2016 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Michelle, and I will be your operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Charter's third-quarter 2016 investor call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Stefan Anninger. Please go ahead.

早安.我是Michelle，今天由我來主持這次電話會議。現在，我謹代表Charter公司歡迎各位參加2016年第三季投資人電話會議。 （操作說明）現在，我將把電話會議交給Stefan Anninger先生。請開始吧。

Thanks, Michelle. Good morning and welcome to Chart's third-quarter 2016 investor call. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, IR.charter.com, under the Financial Information section.

謝謝，米歇爾。早安，歡迎參加Charter公司2016年第三季投資人電話會議。本次電話會議的簡報可在我們網站IR.charter.com的「財務資訊」欄位下找到。

Before we proceed, I would like to remind you that there are a number of risk factors and other cautionary statements contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent proxy statement and Forms 10-K and 10-Q. We will not review those risk factors and other cautionary statements on this call. However, we encourage you to read them carefully.

在繼續之前，我想提醒各位，我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含一些風險因素和其他警示性聲明，包括我們最新的委託書以及10-K和10-Q表格。本次電話會議我們不會對此類風險因素和其他警示性聲明進行詳細討論。但是，我們建議您仔細閱讀這些文件。

Various remarks that we make on this call concerning expectations, predictions, plans, and prospects constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from historical or anticipated results. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current view only, and Charter undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements or make additional forward-looking statements in the future.

我們在本次電話會議中就預期、預測、計畫和前景所作的各種表述均構成前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受風險和不確定性因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與歷史結果或預期結果有差異。任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，Charter公司不承擔任何義務在未來修訂或更新此類陳述或作出其他前瞻性陳述。

During the course of today's call, we will be referring to non-GAAP measures as defined and reconciled in our earnings materials. These non-GAAP measures as defined by Charter may not be comparable to measures with similar titles used by other companies.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及盈利文件中定義和調整的非GAAP財務指標。 Charter定義的這些非GAAP財務指標可能與其他公司使用的類似名稱的指標不具有可比性。

We will also refer to pro forma results. While our transactions closed on May 18, 2016, these pro forma results present information regarding the combined operations as if our transactions had closed at the beginning of the earliest period presented in order to provide a more useful discussion of our results. Please refer to the pro forma disclosures throughout today's materials, including the reconciliations provided in Exhibit 99.1 to our Form 10-Q filed today.

我們也將提及備考業績。雖然我們的交易已於2016年5月18日完成，但這些備考業績反映的是假設交易已在最早列示期間的期初完成的合併運營情況，以便更有效地分析我們的業績。請參閱今天所有資料中的備考披露信息，包括我們今天提交的10-Q表格附件99.1中提供的調節表。

Except for the third quarter of 2016, and unless otherwise specified, all customer and financial data referred to on this call are pro forma for the transactions as if they had closed at the beginning of the earliest period of reference. Please also note that all growth rates noted on this call and in the presentation are calculated on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise specified.

除2016年第三季外，除非另有說明，本次電話會議中提及的所有客戶和財務數據均為模擬交易，假設這些交易已在最早參考期初完成。另請注意，除非另有說明，本次電話會議和簡報中提及的所有成長率均按同比計算。

Joining me on today's call are Tom Rutledge, Chairman and CEO, and Chris Winfrey, our CFO. And with that, I will turn the call over to Tom.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的有董事長兼執行長湯姆·拉特利奇，以及財務長克里斯·溫弗瑞。接下來，我會把電話交給湯姆。

Thank you, Stefan. Since the closing of our transaction in May, we have been focused on quickly integrating our new assets. Integration is going well, and we are able to continue to develop new services and capabilities at the same time we integrated.

謝謝你，斯特凡。自五月交易完成以來，我們一直致力於快速整合新資產。整合進展順利，我們也能夠在整合的同時繼續開發新的服務和功能。

In late September, we began deploying our marketing strategy in the Time Warner Cable footprint, including Texas and California. That process includes launching new service, new pricing and packaging, and the rebranding of our services as Spectrum. As a result, we are already seeing better sales in those markets.

9月下旬，我們開始在時代華納有線電視覆蓋區域（包括德州和加州）實施新的行銷策略。該策略包括推出新服務、新的定價和套餐，以及將我們的服務重新命名為Spectrum。因此，我們已經看到這些市場的銷售業績有所提升。

As expected, these launches in September had little effect on Q3 results. However, later this month, we will roll out Spectrum in our New York City and Florida markets. By year-end, we will have branded over 50% of our service area as Spectrum.

如預期，9月的這些新服務上線對第三季業績影響甚微。不過，本月晚些時候，我們將在紐約市和佛羅裡達州市場推出Spectrum服務。到年底，我們將把超過50%的服務區域升級為Spectrum品牌。

We expect to be through all Time Warner Cable and Bright House markets by the spring of next year, with customers and financial growth benefits following over time, like they have at pre-deal Charter.

我們預計到明年春季將完成時代華納有線電視和 Bright House 的所有市場交易，隨著時間的推移，客戶和財務成長效益將隨之而來，就像在交易前的 Charter 一樣。

On the small and medium business size, we will launch full Spectrum SMB product and pricing and packaging and Time Warner Cable and Bright House passings in mid-2017. Similar to residential, we will offer SMB products that are better than what the telcos offer at lower prices, driving customer growth in the same way we have at pre-deal Charter since launching SMB pricing and packaging in early 2015.

在中小企業市場，我們將於 2017 年中推出完整的 Spectrum SMB 產品、定價和套餐，以及 Time Warner Cable 和 Bright House 的服務。與住宅市場類似，我們將提供比電信業者更優質、價格更低的 SMB 產品，從而推動客戶成長，就像我們在 2015 年初推出 SMB 定價和套餐以來，在收購前 Charter 時所取得的成就一樣。

We are just beginning to modify business practices, policies, and processes, which take time, and our goal is to avoid service disruptions. In-sourcing 20,000 employees will require upfront investments to train, house, and equip our own personnel. There will be a period of time when the productivity of those workers will be relatively low, preventing us from immediately reducing our outsourced workforce. Over time, however, the productivity of our insourced employee base will grow, and transactions will decline, allowing us to change our insource service mix faster.

我們目前正著手調整業務實務、政策和流程，這需要時間，我們的目標是避免服務中斷。將2萬名員工納入公司內部營運需要前期投入，用於培訓、安置和配備員工。在一段時間內，這些員工的生產力會相對較低，這將使我們無法立即減少外包員工。然而，隨著時間的推移，我們內部員工的生產力將會提高，交易量將會下降，使我們能夠更快地調整內部服務組合。

So we will invest more in each customer transaction, driving higher-quality work. That higher-quality work drives transactions out of the business, lowering transaction costs per dollar of revenue and per customer relationship. The operating and financial results of our strategy have been demonstrated at pre-deal Charter, and we expect the same type of results for the new Company. We will also complete the all-digital transition at Time Warner Cable and Bright House over the next two years.

因此，我們將增加對每筆客戶交易的投入，進而提升服務品質。更高品質的服務能夠促進交易，降低每美元收入和每段客戶關係的交易成本。我們策略的營運和財務成果已在交易前的Charter公司得​​到驗證，我們預計新公司也將取得同樣的成果。此外，我們還將在未來兩年內完成時代華納有線電視公司和Bright House的全面數位轉型。

Separate from the integration, we remain focused on product and network development. Over the next five years or so, with relatively small infrastructure investments, our network will be able to deliver symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds with high compute and low latency capabilities to all 50 million homes and businesses in our footprint.

除了整合工作之外，我們仍將專注於產品和網路開發。在未來五年左右的時間裡，透過相對較小的基礎設施投資，我們的網路將能夠為我們覆蓋範圍內的所有5000萬戶家庭和企業提供對稱的多千兆位元速度，並具備強大的運算能力和低延遲。

In addition to residential and SMB offerings, we will serve the enterprise marketplace with increasingly sophisticated and advanced products. The opportunity is meaningful, and our addressable footprint is approximately $20 billion of annual enterprise spend. And today, we are capturing less than 10% of that spend.

除了面向家庭用戶和中小企業的產品外，我們還將以日益複雜和先進的產品服務企業市場。這是一個巨大的機遇，我們潛在的市場規模約為每年200億美元的企業支出。而目前，我們僅佔其中不到10%的份額。

There is also a large opportunity for us in the advanced advertising space. Our two-way interactive plant allows for highly efficient household addressability, and we are testing new platforms which will allow advertisers to better target, measure, and reach consumers at the household level.

我們在高級廣告領域也擁有巨大的發展機會。我們的雙向互動平台能夠實現高效的家庭定向投放，我們正在測試新的平台，這些平台將幫助廣告商更好地定位、衡量和接觸家庭消費者。

Finally, mobility remains an area of significant opportunity for Charter and the cable industry more broadly. We are already a significant wireless provider through our in-and-out-of-home Wi-Fi footprint, and we intend to activate our MVNO agreement with Verizon. In the near term, our goals with mobility are to drive more customer growth and extend customer life by offering an attractively priced product bundle.

最後，行動通訊領域對Charter以及整個有線電視產業而言仍蘊藏著巨大的機會。我們憑藉覆蓋家庭內外的Wi-Fi網絡，已成為重要的無線服務供應商，我們計劃啟動與Verizon的MVNO合作協議。短期內，我們在行動通訊領域的目標是透過提供價格極具吸引力的產品組合，推動客戶成長並延長客戶生命週期。

Over the long term, our goals will broaden. We believe there will be opportunities for us to develop new services as higher-frequency spectrum, both licensed and unlicensed, becomes available. Ultimately, our goals are consistent for any new businesses that we develop: to grow our overall business more quickly and to drive more shareholder value.

長遠來看，我們的目標將會拓展。我們相信，隨著更高頻率頻譜（包括授權頻譜和非授權頻譜）的開放，我們將有機會開發新的服務。最終，我們所有新業務的目標都保持一致：更快地發展整體業務，並創造更大的股東價值。

Before I turn the call over to Chris Winfrey, who will cover the quarter in more detail, I wanted to highlight that we had a very strong quarter of financial results. We grew revenue by over 7% year over year and EBITDA growth of over 14%, in part driven by transaction synergies, which are quickly benefiting our P&L, but also driven by the continued strength of our core operations at legacy Charter.

在將電話會議交給克里斯溫弗瑞（Chris Winfrey）之前，他將更詳細地介紹本季度的業績，我想強調的是，我們本季度的財務業績非常強勁。我們的營收年增超過7%，EBITDA成長超過14%，這部分得益於交易綜效，這些效應正迅速改善我們的損益表，同時也得益於原Charter核心業務的持續強勁成長。

Third-quarter customer results were more inconsistent, with good performance at legacy Charter and Bright House, but higher churn and downgrades in the Time Warner Cable markets, as we expected, given the way Time Warner Cable had marketed promotional pricing. Until our Spectrum pricing and packaging is launched across the newly acquired service areas, we continue to expect higher levels of churn and downgrades where Time Warner Cable was the operator.

第三季客戶業績表現參差不齊，原Charter和Bright House表現良好，但正如我們預期，時代華納有線電視市場的客戶流失率和降級率較高，這與時代華納有線電視的促銷定價策略相符。在我們新收購的服務區域全面推出Spectrum定價和套餐方案之前，我們預計時代華納有線電視營運區域的客戶流失率和降級率仍將較高。

Pre-deal Charter results continue to reflect the multi-year effect of our operating plans, including 6.2% residential and SMB customer growth over the last 12 months, with 9.7% Internet customer growth, 70,000 video net additions, and 7.2% revenue growth, without relying on rate increases. At the same time, service transactions and churn in those areas continue to come down.

收購前的Charter業績持續反映出我們多年營運計畫的成效，包括過去12個月住宅和中小企業客戶成長6.2%，網路客戶成長9.7%，新增視訊用戶7萬，以及在不提高費率的情況下實現7.2%的營收成長。同時，這些領域的服務交易量和客戶流失率持續下降。

So our growth plan is working, and our integration remains on or ahead of schedule. Nothing we have seen internally or externally has changed our optimism regarding our long-term business opportunities and growth prospects.

因此，我們的成長計畫進展順利，整合工作也按計畫進行或提前完成。無論從內部或外部來看，沒有任何因素動搖我們對長期業務機會和成長前景的樂觀態度。

Chris, I will turn the call to you.

克里斯，我把電話轉給你。

Thanks, Tom. On our last quarter's call, I spent a lot of time discussing the effect of purchase accounting on our financials and the presentation of pro forma results. So I won't go through all of that again, but last quarter's presentation and transcript regarding accounting mechanisms remain helpful to investors. As Stefan mentioned, I'll refer to the third-quarter 2016 actual results versus prior-year pro forma results as comparisons to third-quarter 2015 actuals aren't so helpful.

謝謝湯姆。在上個季度的電話會議上，我花了很多時間討論收購會計處理對我們財務報表的影響以及備考業績的列報。所以我就不再贅述了，但上個季度關於會計機制的簡報和會議記錄對投資人仍然很有幫助。正如斯特凡所提到的，我會使用2016年第三季的實際業績與去年同期備考業績的對比，因為與2015年第三季的實際業績進行比較意義不大。

The customer and passings data that you see in today's materials continue to be based on legacy Company definitions. And in a few quarters' time, we will recap customer data in the trending schedules using the same common definitions. Until then, certain data, like penetration and ARPU, remain relevant for the legacy entity trends, but they are less helpful in comparing one entity to another.

您今天在資料中看到的客戶和客流量資料仍然基於公司先前的定義。幾個季度後，我們將使用相同的通用定義重新匯總趨勢分析表中的客戶資料。在此之前，某些數據（例如滲透率和每位用戶平均收入）對於先前的實體趨勢仍然適用，但它們在比較不同實體時作用不大。

Turning to customers and PSUs, during the third quarter, total customer relationships grew year over year by 5.1%, including 4.5% at legacy TWC, 6.2% at legacy Charter, and 5.9% at legacy Bright House.

從客戶和 PSU 的角度來看，第三季客戶關係總數較去年同期成長 5.1%，其中原 TWC 成長 4.5%，原 Charter 成長 6.2%，原 Bright House 成長 5.9%。

As slide 8 shows, we grew residential PSUs by 336,000 versus 605,000 on a pro forma basis last year. The lower year-over-year PSU net adds was primarily driven by fewer voice net additions this quarter, partly due to a low-price voice offering in TWC markets in prior-year quarters, which is now resulting in higher voice downgrades and relationship churn.

如投影片8所示，依備考基準計算，我們本季住宅用戶淨增加33.6萬戶，去年同期為60.5萬戶。年比淨增用戶數量下降的主要原因是本季語音用戶淨增數量減少，部分原因是去年同期TWC市場提供的低價語音服務，而這導致語音服務降級和客戶流失率上升。

Over the last year, TWC residential video customers declined by about 0.05%, pre-deal Charter grew its residential video customer base by 1.2%, and Bright House lost about 2.6% of its residential video customers.

過去一年，TWC 住宅視訊用戶減少了約 0.05%，交易前的 Charter 住宅視訊用戶群增加了 1.2%，而 Bright House 的住宅視訊用戶減少了約 2.6%。

Quarterly video customer performance improved year over year pre-deal Charter and at Bright House, while TWC video net loss was 54,000 worse than last year, primarily driven by an increase in video downgrade activity, given legacy pricing and packaging issues. So in total, we lost 47,000 residential video customers in the quarter, primarily driven by the losses at TWC.

本季視訊用戶表現較收購前Charter和Bright House時期有所改善，但TWC視訊淨流失用戶比去年同期增加了5.4萬，主要原因是由於遺留定價和套餐問題導致視訊降級用戶增多。因此，本季我們共流失了4.7萬戶住宅視訊用戶，主要原因是TWC的流失。

In residential Internet, we added a total of 350,000 customers versus 369,000 last year. Our total residential Internet customer base grew by 1.6 million customers or 8.2% over the past year.

在住宅網路方面，我們新增了35萬用戶，而去年為36.9萬。過去一年，我們的住宅網路用戶總數增加了160萬，增幅達8.2%。

In voice, we grew customers by 33,000 versus 256,000 last year, largely driven by higher churn at TWC, for the reasons I already mentioned.

在語音業務方面，我們的客戶數量從去年的 256,000 增加了 33,000，這主要是由於 TWC 的客戶流失率較高，原因我已經提到過了。

Over the last year, total pro forma residential customers grew by 1.1 million or by 4.8%. And over the same period, residential revenue per customer was up by about 1.8%, nearly all of which was driven by TWC rate increases early in the year and step-ups, which impacted unit growth.

過去一年，住宅用戶總數（按備考數據）增加了110萬，增幅為4.8%。在同一時期，每位住宅用戶的收入增加了約1.8%，這幾乎全部是由年初TWC的費率上調和階梯式收費推動的，從而影響了用戶數量的增長。

Slide 9 shows our customer growth combined with our ARPU growth resulted in year-over-year pro forma residential revenue growth of 6.7%. Total commercial revenue, SMB and enterprise combined, grew by 12.1%, a bit slower than last quarter, driven by lower cell tower growth and one-time benefit at Navisite. Finally, advertising was up 12.1% and, absent political, advertising revenue grew roughly 2%.

投影片9顯示，客戶成長與ARPU成長相結合，使得住宅收入較去年同期成長6.7%。中小企業和大型企業合計的商業總收入成長12.1%，略低於上一季度，主要原因是基地台成長放緩以及Navisite的一次性收益。最後，廣告收入成長12.1%，剔除政治廣告後，廣告收入成長約2%。

In total, third-quarter pro forma revenue for the Company was up 7.4% year over year. Looking at total revenue growth by each of our legacy companies, TWC revenue grew by 7.7%, with nearly half of residential growth still coming from rate. Pre-deal Charter grew by 7.2%, driven predominantly by continued customer growth. And Bright House revenue grew by 6.6%, where their Florida markets continue to do well.

公司第三季整體備考營收年增7.4%。從各原有公司營收成長情況來看，TWC營收成長7.7%，其中近一半的住宅業務成長仍來自費率業務。收購前Charter營收成長7.2%，主要得益於客戶數量的持續成長。 Bright House營收成長6.6%，在佛羅裡達州的市場表現依然良好。

Within operating expense, in both current and historical periods, we have reclassified a number of operating expense items between lines. And as I mentioned last quarter, we do expect some ongoing remapping of our expenses as we move expense categories to the correct business unit in our opening structure.

在營運費用方面，無論是在當前期間還是歷史期間，我們都對一些營運費用項目進行了重新分類。正如我上個季度提到的，隨著我們將費用類別調整到新架構中正確的業務單元，我們預期費用結構還會持續進行一些調整。

Total operating expenses grew by $234 million or 3.8% year over year, with transition expense accounting for $32 million of our total OpEx this quarter. Programming increased 8.2% year over year, driven by contractual rate increases, partially offset by transaction synergies. I expect our programming line and year-over-year programming comparisons to be more representative on a pro forma basis by Q4, or at least by Q1.

本季總營運支出成長2.34億美元，成長3.8%，其中過渡費用佔總營運支出的3,200萬美元。節目製作費用較去年同期成長8.2%，主要受合約價格上漲推動，但部分被交易綜效所抵銷。我預計到第四季度，或至少到第一季度，我們的節目製作水平和同比節目製作數據將更符合實際情況。

Turning to regulatory connectivity and produced content expense, these direct costs were down about 3% year over year, in part due to the purchase accounting adjustment made to the Dodgers contract that I discussed last quarter. The Dodgers' right costs are only expensed during the regular MLB season, both in the past and today.

就監管連接和內容製作費用而言，這些直接成本同比下降約3%，部分原因是上季度我討論過的道奇隊合約的購買會計調整。道奇隊的版權費用僅在MLB常規賽季期間計入費用，過去如此，現在亦然。

Cost to service customers declined by about 2% despite overall customer growth of 5.1%, which reflects lower service transactions at legacy Charter, the lack of all-digital activity at TWC this quarter versus last year's third quarter, and some benefit from less physical disconnects in all digital markets.

儘管客戶總數增加了 5.1%，但服務客戶的成本下降了約 2%，這反映出傳統 Charter 的服務交易量減少，TWC 本季缺乏與去年第三季相比的全數位化活動，以及所有數位市場實體連線中斷減少帶來的一些好處。

And other expenses grew by 7.9%, driven by higher corporate and administrative labor costs, including advertising sales costs, enterprise sales, and higher year-over-year IT spend at legacy TWC. The expense was partly offset by overhead reductions.

其他費用增加了7.9%，主要原因是企業和行政人工成本上升，包括廣告銷售成本、企業銷售成本以及原TWC公司IT支出較去年同期成長。部分費用被管理費用削減所抵銷。

Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes noncash share-based compensation, grew by 14.5%. And excluding transition costs, adjusted EBITDA grew by 15.1%. That growth includes continued growth in legacy Charter, excluding synergies, at a level well above revenue growth. And absent transaction synergies and merger accounting effects and labor for all-digital sent at TWC in 2015, consolidated Charter adjusted EBITDA was probably growing just above the total revenue growth rate.

經調整的 EBITDA（不包括非現金股權激勵）增加了 14.5%。若不計過渡成本，調整的 EBITDA 成長了 15.1%。這一成長包括原 Charter 業務的持續成長（不包括綜效），其成長速度遠高於營收成長速度。若不計交易綜效、合併會計處理影響以及 2015 年 TWC 全數位化業務的人工成本，Charter 合併後的經調整 EBITDA 增速可能略高於總收入增速。

We have identified nearly $90 million of hard transaction synergies realized within the third quarter, which had positive impact on the financial statements and was growing through the quarter. As various small projects have naturally come under review, there are additional benefits outside of the $90 million inside the quarter to the income statement, some of which could drive sustain sustainably lower spend on discretionary initiatives, which will be harder to track definitively, some of which may just be a temporary pause.

我們在第三季實現了近9,000萬美元的硬性交易協同效應，這對財務報表產生了積極影響，並且在整個季度持續成長。隨著各項小型項目陸續進入審查階段，除了這9000萬美元之外，本季度損益表還出現了其他收益，其中一些收益可能會促使我們持續降低可自由支配項目的支出，但這些支出難以準確追踪，部分項目可能只是暫時的暫停。

Going in the opposite direction, some overhead groups continue to be double-staffed as we prepare to transition systems and processes starting in Q4. And for many areas like billing, provisioning, IT, and engineering, that will persist into 2017.

另一方面，由於我們準備從第四季開始過渡系統和流程，一些管理部門仍然保持雙倍人員配置。對於計費、配置、IT 和工程等許多領域來說，這種情況將持續到 2017 年。

The net-net: Those puts and takes will continue for a while, but there were roughly $350 million of annualized hard transaction synergies already in the Q3 numbers, and we have concretely identified $700 million in run rate transaction synergies, which should be achieved at the first anniversary of the closing. The amount and quality of these estimates continues to improve with time, and we continue to expect to significant exceed the $800 million target after three years.

總而言之：這些交易的增減操作還會持續一段時間，但第三季的數據已經顯示，年度化硬性交易協同效應約為3.5億美元，而且我們已經明確確定了7億美元的定期交易協同效應，預計在交易完成一周年時即可實現。隨著時間的推移，這些預估的金額和品質將持續提升，我們仍然預期三年後將大幅超過8億美元的目標。

Legacy Charter, without any synergies benefit, continues to be a good proxy for how we expect subscribers and financials to develop once our Spectrum pricing and packaging is fully deployed. Over the next few quarters, our operating results will reflect reversing certain product and packaging strategies, in particular at TWC, in which in our view are not sustainable, given high promotional rolloffs and annual rate increases, high customer equipment fees, including modem fees, all coupled with complex and stacked offers.

即使不考慮綜效，傳統Charter的業務仍能很好地代表我們預期在Spectrum定價和套餐全面實施後，用戶數量和財務狀況的發展趨勢。未來幾個季度，我們的經營業績將反映出部分產品和套餐策略的調整，尤其是在TWC，我們認為這些策略不可持續，因為它們存在​​促銷活動頻繁終止、年費上漲、客戶設備費用高昂（包括調製解調器費用）以及套餐組合複雜且疊加等問題。

Our goal is to transition to new pricing and packaging in a revenue-accretive manner. But the revenue growth rate at TWC will probably be lower until Spectrum pricing and packaging is fully deployed, relationship growth accelerates, and a systematic approach to rolloffs and retention are in place.

我們的目標是以增加收入的方式過渡到新的定價和套餐模式。但在Spectrum定價和套餐模式全面部署、客戶關係加速成長以及系統性的用戶流失和挽留策略到位之前，TWC的收入成長率可能會較低。

In addition, we expect to spend more OpEx for service operations and capital for all-digital through 2018, similar to legacy Charter. But what will be different than the legacy Charter experience is that we will have transaction synergies and growth from legacy Charter operations to finance much of that incremental spending. And there is more of the TWC and Bright House base that has already been digitized, and we have a lower unit cost on boxes.

此外，我們預計到2018年，在服務營運和全數位化資本方面的營運支出將會增加，與先前的Charter公司類似。但與先前的Charter公司不同的是，我們將利用先前Charter公司營運帶來的交易綜效和成長來為大部分新增支出提供資金。而且，TWC和Bright House的大部分用戶已經實現了數位化，我們的機上盒單位成本也更低。

Turning to net income on slide 11, we generated $189 million in net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the third quarter versus $2 million on a pro forma basis last year, with the growth driven by higher adjusted EBITDA and a gain on financial instruments from currency movements on our British pound debt and related hedging. That was partly offset by transaction-related expense, including severance expense and higher depreciation and amortization driven by purchase price accounting step-ups.

請參閱第11頁投影片中的淨利潤部分。第三季歸屬於Charter股東的淨利為1.89億美元，而去年同期以備考基準計算為200萬美元。成長主要得益於調整後EBITDA的提高以及英鎊債務及其相關對沖交易帶來的金融工具收益。但部分成長被交易相關支出所抵消，包括遣散費以及因收購價格會計調整而導致的折舊和攤提費用增加。

Turning to slide 12, capital expenditures totaled $1.75 billion, including $109 million of transition spend. Excluding transition CapEx, our third-quarter CapEx was down by $36 million year over year or about 2%, driven by one all-digital spending at TWC, primarily on CPE, which did not recur in the third quarter of this year; two, prior-year support capital spending at TWC, including real estate investments and network facilities, both of which were offset by investments in product development, which fall into scalable infrastructure. Looking ahead, we expect our annual capital spending to rise once we restart all-digital in 2017.

翻到第12張投影片，資本支出總額為17.5億美元，其中包括1.09億美元的過渡支出。剔除過渡期資本支出後，我們第三季度的資本支出同比下降3600萬美元，降幅約為2%，主要原因是：一是TWC的全數字化支出，主要用於CPE設備，而這部分支出在今年第三季度並未重複出現；二是TWC上年的配套資本支出，包括房地產投資和網絡設施開發項目，這兩項支出均被認為是TWC上年的配套資本支出，包括房地產投資和網絡設施開發項目，這兩項支出均被範疇。展望未來，我們預計在2017年重啟全數位轉型後，年度資本支出將會增加。

As slide 13 shows, we generated $1 billion in free cash flow in the third quarter versus $208 million of actual, not pro forma free cash flow in the third quarter last year. That growth was largely driven by higher adjusted EBITDA, given the close of our transactions. And although we don't provide pro forma free cash flow for the third quarter of 2015, on a pro forma basis, adjusted EBITDA, less CapEx, grew by 28% in the third quarter versus the prior year.

如投影片13所示，我們第三季創造了10億美元的自由現金流，而去年同期實際自由現金流（非備考自由現金流）僅為2.08億美元。這一增長主要得益於調整後EBITDA的提高，這主要歸功於我們完成的交易。雖然我們沒有提供2015年第三季的備考自由現金流數據，但以備考基準計算，扣除資本支出後的調整後EBITDA較上年同期成長了28%。

We finished the third quarter with $60.2 billion in principal amount of debt. Our run rate annualized cash interest expense was $3.3 billion, whereas our P&L interest expense would suggest a $2.9 billion annual run rate. The P&L difference to cash stems from the revaluation of acquired TWC debt on our GAAP balance sheet as part of purchase accounting.

第三季末，我們的債務本金總額為602億美元。以年計算，我們的現金利息支出為33億美元，而損益表中的利息支出則顯示為29億美元。損益表與現金支出之間的差異源於根據GAAP準則對收購的TWC債務進行重估，這是收購會計處理的一部分。

As of the end of the third quarter, our total net debt to last-12-month pro forma adjusted EBITDA was 4.2 times. Our long-term target leverage remains at 4 to 4.5 times, and we continue to target the lower end of that range. We are deleveraging rapidly, and we continue -- and we can use that excess capacity in a number of ways. The priorities remain investment in the business, accretive M&A when available, or returning capital to shareholders in the form of share repurchases.

截至第三季末，我們的淨債務總額與過去12個月的備考調整後EBITDA比率為4.2倍。我們的長期目標槓桿率仍為4至4.5倍，我們將繼續努力實現該區間的下限目標。我們正在快速去槓桿化，並將繼續推進這一進程——我們可以利用這些剩餘產能進行多種方式的調整。我們的優先事項仍然是：投資於業務發展、在條件允許的情況下進行增值併購，或以股票回購的形式向股東返還資本。

During the third quarter, we repurchased 1.1 million in Charter shares for $281 million at an average price of about $267 per share. Share repurchase activity will continue to depend on market conditions and other potential uses of capital. And we will be opportunistic, similar to what we did in 2011, where we provided liquidity in size at a fair price to institutional sellers. Our goal is to retain full strategic flexibility and not become trapped by formulaic capital allocation guidance on buybacks.

第三季度，我們以每股約267美元的平均價格回購了110萬股Charter股票，總額達2.81億美元。股票回購活動將繼續取決於市場狀況和其他潛在的資金用途。我們將採取機會主義策略，類似於我們在2011年的做法，當時我們以合理的價格向機構賣家提供了大量流動性。我們的目標是保持充分的策略彈性，避免被固定的回購資本配置指引所束縛。

Finally, turning to our cash assets on slide 15, we estimate that the total value of those assets is in excess of $6 billion and is comprised of our excess basis, large NOLs, and a valuable tax-sharing agreement with Advance/Newhouse. We don't currently expect to be a material cash income taxpayer until at least 2018, maybe not until 2019. And even then, our cash taxes as a percentage of GAAP to pretax income, excluding the impact of higher G&A from purchase accounting, should be below statutory rates for [seven] years thereafter.

最後，關於第15頁幻燈片中的現金資產，我們估計這些資產的總價值超過60億美元，包括我們的超額成本基礎、巨額淨經營虧損以及與Advance/Newhouse達成的價值不菲的稅務分攤協議。我們目前預計至少在2018年之前，甚至可能要到2019年，才會成為重要的現金所得稅納稅人。即使到了那時，扣除收購會計處理導致的較高管理費用的影響後，我們按GAAP計算的現金稅佔稅前利潤的比例，在接下來的[七年]內也應低於法定稅率。

Operator, we are now ready for Q&A.

操作員，我們現在可以開始問答環節了。

(Operator Instructions) Jason Bazinet, Citi.

（操作說明）Jason Bazinet，花旗銀行。

I just had a quick question regarding some of the over-the-top sort of linear offers that are out in the marketplace and more that are coming. What strikes me as unusual about them is the relatively low ARPUs. And I was just wondering, as you guys assess the competitive landscape, do you view those as sort of below their marginal cost, or is there something that you are aware of that makes -- fixed-price contracts or something like that that makes those retail ARPUs that are going to be in the marketplace maybe not indicative of the long-run price points? Thanks.

我有一個關於市面上一些價格虛高的線性付費套餐以及即將推出的更多套餐的問題。讓我感到奇怪的是，這些套餐的平均每用戶收入（ARPU）相對較低。我想請教各位，在評估競爭格局時，你們是否認為這些套餐的價格低於其邊際成本？或者你們是否了解某些因素，例如固定價格合約或其他類似條款，導致這些即將上市的零售ARPU可能無法反映長期的價格水準？謝謝。

Jason, this is Tom. From what I have seen, they're not -- the descriptions of the products sets are consistent with the price. And so I don't think they are below price. But I also don't think they are full packages, as I have seen them described.

傑森，我是湯姆。就我所見，它們並非如此——產品套裝的描述與價格相符。所以我認為它們並非低於標價。但我也認為它們並非如我所見所描述的那樣是完整套裝。

So, like, for example, DTV Now is out there at $35. It looks like a pretty robust offer. What would be the thing that you think makes that sort of missing? What is missing from that lineup relative to your video offering?

例如，DTV Now 的售價是 35 美元，看起來是個相當不錯的選擇。您覺得它缺少什麼？相對於您的影片產品，它缺少哪些內容？

I don't think all the broadcast signals are in it.

我認為它並不包含所有的廣播訊號。

Okay. Is there anything else that you think will be missing?

好的。你覺得還有什麼遺漏的嗎？

Well, I can't say I know off the top of my head everything that is in it, but --

嗯，我不能說我立刻就能記住裡面的所有內容，但是——

Okay. All right. But the way you are assessing the marketplace is --

好的。沒問題。但是你評估市場的方式是──

What I have seen is in it is -- doesn't add up to the price. So I think it does have some margin in it.

我看到的情況是——加起來和這個價格不符。所以我認為它還是有一定的利潤空間的。

Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

好的。好的。非常感謝。

Craig Moffett, Moffett Nathanson.

克雷格·莫菲特，莫菲特·納坦森。

Two questions on wireless, if I could. One, just a clarification. You said that you were going to trigger the MVNO with Verizon. Has Verizon confirmed the full availability of the MVNO, the transferability from TWC to a new owner? And, if so, are there any restrictions on the footprints that you can use it in?

關於無線網絡，我有兩個問題。首先，我想確認一下。您提到您打算啟用Verizon的虛擬運營商（MVNO）服務。 Verizon是否已確認該服務完全可用，並且可以從TWC轉移到新的運營商？如果可以，該服務的覆蓋範圍是否有任何限制？

And then, second, so you disclosed that you started buying back stock. Is there any interaction between spending that you might do on wireless and the rate at which you repurchase shares? I saw an SEC filing in which you indicated some expectation of having your own facilities in wireless.

其次，您揭露了您已開始回購股票。您在無線通訊領域的支出與您回購股票的速度之間是否有任何關聯？我看到一份您提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件，其中您表示預期會擁有自己的無線通訊設施。

So to the first question, I don't -- we've had fruitful discussions with Verizon, but I don't want to characterize them beyond that. And with regard to our licenses, yes, we have asked the SEC for the right to experiment with what people call millimeter wave technologies in several markets so that we can learn how to use those products to our advantage competitively.

所以對於第一個問題，我不太清楚——我們與Verizon進行了富有成效的討論，但我不想就此做更多評論。至於我們的許可證，是的，我們已向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）申請在多個市場試驗所謂的毫米波技術，以便我們能夠學習如何利用這些產品來提升我們的競爭優勢。

I think, Craig, at this point, from a cash flow perspective, whether you think about the MVNO or some advance testing, this is not at the stage where it is material at all to cash flow. And so, again, we are not going to trap ourselves with buyback guidance, because we're always going to look for ways to reinvest in the business or apply it to more accretive M&A, to the extent it exists. But that hasn't factored into our thinking right now as a significant source of capital yet in the short term.

克雷格，我認為，就目前現金流而言，無論是虛擬營運商還是其他一些前期測試，都還不足以對現金流產生實質影響。因此，我們不會為自己設定股票回購的預期，因為我們總是會尋找機會將資金再投資於業務，或用於更具增值潛力的併購（如果存在的話）。但就目前而言，這還不是我們短期內重要的資金來源。

All right. That's helpful. Thank you.

好的，這很有幫助，謝謝。

Marci Ryvicker, Wells Fargo.

Marci Ryvicker，富國銀行。

Just a clarification. When you roll out Spectrum, it feels like investors are anticipating a big negative in terms of ARPU or revenue per customer relationship. Can you just talk about it a little bit more?

我有個疑問。 Spectrum推出後，投資人似乎預期ARPU（每位用戶平均收入）會大幅下降。能再詳細談談嗎？

It didn't happen at Charter, and we went through the exact same process. So Charter had -- legacy Charter, in 2012, we went through this before, had high-price boxes, low-value products. And it meant that maybe the ARPU lift for customer relationship wasn't as high as it could have been if you were banging on rates but our growth took off. And I think people are focusing on the wrong thing of trying to focus on ARPU as opposed to talking about customer relationship growth. And that is the real value of the growth strategy over time as opposed to how much rate can you take.

這種情況並沒有發生在Charter，但我們經歷了完全相同的過程。 Charter——也就是之前的Charter，在2012年，我們之前也經歷過類似的情況——當時的套餐價格很高，但產品價值卻很低。這意味著，如果只專注於價格，客戶關係帶來的ARPU提升可能沒有那麼高，但我們的成長卻實現了飛躍。我認為人們關注的重點錯了，他們只關注ARPU，而忽略了客戶關係的成長。這才是成長策略的真正價值所在，而不是你能把價格降到多高。

Got it. And then, when you talked about opportunistic and accretive M&A, we are assuming that you don't have anything imminent in mind, and it would most likely not be content, but more something tuck-in to help your strategy.

明白了。然後，當您談到機會主義和增值型併購時，我們假設您目前沒有任何具體的計劃，而且很可能不是為了擴大規模，而是為了更好地配合您的策略。

You would like us to lay out our M&A strategy here.

您希望我們在這裡闡述我們的併購策略。

It's imminent. If we had anything that was material and probable, we would have to disclose it here. That is about the best I can say.

這件事即將發生。如果我們掌握任何實質且可能的結果，就必須在這裡揭露。我只能說這麼多了。

Okay. Thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Philip Cusick, JPMorgan.

Philip Cusick，摩根大通。

A follow-up first and then a question. Chris, I know you don't want to get trapped into talking on the guiding on a buyback. But you talked about providing liquidity to the market in the past, whereas this time, you were buying in what was a fairly high period of demand at relatively high prices. How do you think about the buyback in terms of being opportunistic? And how did the Board come up with the $750 million over a six-month period?

先提個後續問題，然後再問一個問題。克里斯，我知道你不想過多談論股票回購的指導方針。但你之前說過要為市場提供流動性，而這次，你們是在需求相當旺盛、價格也相對較高的時期進行回購。你如何看待這次回購的策略性？董事會是如何決定在六個月內募得7.5億美元的？

Well, I don't know if I should be getting into our Board's thinking. But that was the number that we got, and obviously, management like as much flexibility as we could have. The opportunistic part means in 2011, there were periods of disruption where institutional investors approached us, and we were able to provide them liquidity. There is all the other traditional ways of going back and buying back stock, whether there is high market demand, low market demand. At the end of the day, it is just a view on what you think the growth profile of the Company is and where the stock will be several years out as opposed to the next few months. If you have views on what you think the stock is worth over a multi-year period, does it look attractive? And we thought it did, and we executed on some buybacks under that authority.

嗯，我不知道我是否應該干涉董事會的想法。但這就是我們得到的數字，而且顯然，管理階層希望我們擁有盡可能多的彈性。所謂“機會主義”，指的是在2011年市場動盪時期，機構投資者聯繫我們，我們能夠為他們提供流動性。當然，還有其他傳統的股票回購方式，無論市場需求旺盛或低迷。歸根究底，這取決於你對公司成長前景的看法，以及未來幾年（而非未來幾個月）股價的走勢。如果你對股票在未來幾年的價值有自己的看法，它看起來是否有吸引力？我們認為它很有吸引力，因此我們根據授權進行了一些股票回購。

Okay. Thanks. And, second, CapEx this quarter, fairly low. I think you were delaying the -- you talked about delaying the all-digital migration. Should we expect that to be up a little bit in 4Q as you get ready for more digital conversions?

好的，謝謝。第二，本季的資本支出相當低。我記得您之前說過要延後全面數位轉型。隨著您為更多數位轉型做準備，我們是否可以預期第四季度資本支出會略有上升？

And then, if you can give us any kind of preview on 2017, where it might be versus the $6.9 billion that was outlined in the proxy? Thank you.

那麼，您能否對2017年的情況做一些預測，例如與委託書中提到的69億美元相比，可能會達到什麼水準？謝謝。

Yes. The proxy was based on a business plan of nearly two years ago. So frankly, I don't even remember what the number was. There is nothing that has changed in our thoughts about the trajectory of CapEx over time. But we closed six months later, and if we see opportunities to pull investment in faster, we will.

是的。那份委託書是基於近兩年前的商業計劃書而製定的。坦白說，我甚至都不記得具體數字是多少了。我們對資本支出長期發展方向的看法並沒有改變。但我們六個月後就完成了交易，如果我們發現有機會更快吸引投資，我們會毫不猶豫地去做。

So I don't want to be tethered to what we were laying out then. The trajectory is the same. And for 2017, I don't even know how much we are doing in terms of all-digital in 2017 versus 2018. That is going to be one of the large drivers.

所以我不想被我們當時制定的計劃所束縛。發展軌跡是一樣的。至於2017年，我甚至不知道我們在全數位化方面比2018年做得更多多少。這將是重要的驅動因素之一。

So we are not going to get into mode of being trapped by that CapEx guidance either. But we expect the capital intensity to decline over time, once we get through the all-digital.

因此，我們也不會被資本支出指引所束縛。但我們預計，一旦完成全面數位轉型，資本密集度將隨時間推移而下降。

Yes. We haven't actually done our budget yet, so we don't know what we are going to spend in 2017.

是的。我們還沒有製定預算，所以不知道2017年會花多少錢。

Okay. Thanks, guys.

好的，謝謝各位。

Ben Swinburne, Morgan Stanley.

本‧斯溫伯恩，摩根士丹利。

Chris, just going back to the synergy and investments and trying to -- maybe you can help us think about the cadence. On the programming cost side, did you guys -- are you basically recognizing or have you already gotten all of the benefit from rolling to Time Warner Cable's rate card? You talked about fourth quarter being a little more of a normalized number. Maybe you could just give us some color as to why.

克里斯，我們再回到綜效和投資的話題，或許你能幫我們思考節奏方面。在節目製作成本方面，你們是否已經完全享受到採用時代華納有線電視價目錶帶來的所有好處？你提到第四季的數據會比較正常化。能具體解釋一下原因嗎？

And on the other side of it, your slide or the number that shows insourcing, it looks like the insourcing has started. I don't know if you can give us a sense even qualitatively as to how far along you are in terms of hiring those 20,000 people or if most of that is still ahead of us. And then I have a follow-up for Tom.

另一方面，您投影片上顯示的內包資料表明，內包工作似乎已經開始了。我不知道您能否定性地告訴我們，在招聘那兩萬名員工方面，你們進展如何，或者大部分招聘工作是否還在進行中。接下來，我還有一個問題想問湯姆。

Yes. So, look, we are intentionally not getting into it line by line as it relates to the synergy targets or what has been realized because, frankly, from an investor perspective, I don't know that it matters that much. There is one thing to talk about the one-time synergy and another thing is to talk about the growth curve and programming cost once you have that synergy over a multi-year period. And those are really distinct items.

是的。所以，你看，我們故意不逐條分析協同效應目標或已實現的成果，因為坦白說，從投資者的角度來看，我認為這並不那麼重要。一次性的綜效是一回事，而綜效實現後，在多年期間的成長曲線和專案成本又是另一回事。這兩者截然不同。

So for all the obvious reasons, we are not going to go line by line. I think the key thing for investors to understand is that we started off, I think, when we announced the transaction, thinking it would be around $400 million in the first year -- at the end of the first year annualized. When we financed it, it was at $500 million. Last quarter, it was at $600 million. This quarter, we are confirming that it is $700 million at the end of year one run rate and that we are going to significantly exceed the $800 million original target for the run rate at the end of three years.

出於顯而易見的原因，我們不會逐條分析。我認為投資者需要理解的關鍵是，當我們最初宣布這項交易時，預計第一年（按年計算）的收入約為4億美元。融資時，我們設定了5億美元。上個季度，這個數字是6億美元。本季度，我們確認第一年末的收入將達到7億美元，並且三年後的收入將大幅超過最初設定的8億美元目標。

So that is what really matters, and that is what, different from Charter, is going to help us fund a lot of the investments that we are doing and have a slightly different net growth curve financially for the new Company.

所以這才是真正重要的，與 Charter 不同的是，這將幫助我們為正在進行的許多投資提供資金，並為新公司帶來略有不同的財務淨成長曲線。

From a programming expense line perspective, I guess the only thing I would tell you is, one, even though you step into a rate card that has nothing to do -- that doesn't give you any indication of what the slope was and the growth rate could have continued to be high on the rate card you stepped into. But we are not accruing against the contractual rate card which we are billing. Beyond that, I will just leave it at that. And for all the obvious reasons, we are not going to go much deeper into the topic.

從程式費用明細的角度來看，我唯一想說的是，即使你使用的是一個完全不適用的費率表，這也不能反映出先前的成長率，實際成長率可能仍然很高。但我們並沒有按照合約費率表進行計費。除此之外，我就說到這裡。而且，出於顯而易見的原因，我們不會在這個主題上做太多深入的探討。

Okay. Any color on how many of those heads have been brought in already that we are seeing in the P&L?

好的。損益表中能看出目前已經引進了多少名員工嗎？

No. I think this is more about changing the activity and rerouting along the way. We talk publicly about the fact that we are already building call centers and we were doing that rapidly. So that process has started, but it is very early on, which is the intent of that very light shading on the -- I don't know what page it is in the presentation, but we did give a page that is designed to show the progression of all the different operating initiatives as we see it today.

不，我認為這更多的是關於調整活動方式和流程。我們公開談論過我們正在建造呼叫中心，而且速度很快。所以這個過程已經啟動，但還處於非常早期的階段，這就是為什麼我們在演示文稿中用淺色陰影來表示——我記不清是哪一頁了，但我們確實用一頁來展示我們目前看到的各種運營舉措的進展情況。

Yes. Got it. And then just, Tom, going back to your comments on enterprise, we hear that a lot from a lot of the cable operators, and it is obviously a big opportunity, but also one that I don't think we have seen anyone really crack the code on yet. Do you believe you can build all the expertise and product offering, salesforce, et cetera, to go after enterprise meaningfully? Or do you think you need to buy assets, either network assets or expertise, to really capture that when you look out at what seems to be, I think you said a $20 billion opportunity in your footprint?

是的，明白了。湯姆，回到你剛才關於企業級市場的評論，我們經常聽到很多有線電視運營商提到這一點，這顯然是一個巨大的機遇，但我認為目前還沒有人真正掌握其中的訣竅。你認為你們能夠建立所有必要的專業知識和產品，包括銷售團隊等等，從而有效地開拓企業級市場嗎？還是說，你們需要收購資產，無論是網路資產還是專業知識，才能真正抓住這個機會？畢竟，正如你所說，你們的業務覆蓋範圍內蘊藏著價值200億美元的商機。

I do think we can build it. And I think that we can change the definition of the product set that works in that marketplace as well, coming at it from a nonincumbent perspective. But one of the advantages of the new Company and the new footprint is the regionality that has been picked up in terms of our asset base.

我認為我們能夠實現這個目標。而我認為，從非傳統企業的視角出發，我們也能改變該市場中有效產品組合的定義。新公司和新佈局的優勢之一在於，我們的資產基礎具有地域性。

Previously, Charter was less of a percentage of DMA in most markets that we operated in. And as a result of that, we had marketing inefficiencies. We couldn't use mass media in a lot of places. And the same effect actually impedes enterprise growth because of the regional nature of a lot of enterprises and the multisite facilities that larger enterprises have, and the inability to serve those consistently when you have a spindly footprint.

在此之前，Charter 在我們營運的大多數市場中，其市佔率佔比都低於 DMA（指定市場區域）。因此，我們的行銷效率低。在很多地方，我們無法利用大眾媒體。同樣的情況也會阻礙企業發展，因為許多企業具有區域性特徵，大型企業通常擁有多個辦公地點，而我們自身業務規模有限，無法持續有效地服務這些客戶。

And so the improvement in the footprint actually improves the opportunity that the enterprise market presents to us, as well as the fact that it's -- I mean, the big news is we have great technologies. We have the ability to put those technologies everywhere we operate, and we are really underpenetrated. And to me, that is lots of upside.

因此，業務覆蓋範圍的擴大實際上提升了企業市場帶給我們的機遇，而且——我的意思是，最重要的消息是我們擁有卓越的技術。我們有能力將這些技術應用到我們營運的每個地方，但我們的市場滲透率仍然很低。對我來說，這蘊藏著巨大的發展潛力。

Thank you both.

謝謝你們兩位。

Vijay Jayant, Evercore.

Vijay Jayant，Evercore。

Just referring to your presentation on page 4, based on the timeline set out there, it sort of appears that your KPI [Rosat] should start increasing starting in 4Q, although you still have the churn associated with Time Warner Cable, as you called out. And then, ARPU step-ups should start really in Q4 2017, given the step-ups that we expect.

僅參考您第 4 頁的演示文稿，根據其中列出的時間表，您的 KPI [Rosat] 似乎應該從第四季度開始增長，儘管您也提到了時代華納有線電視帶來的客戶流失問題。然後，考慮到我們預期的成長，ARPU 的成長應該會在 2017 年第四季真正開始。

But looking at your insourcing, it looks like three years, but where in that cycle does the duplicate cost start rolling off? Because from what I remember on the heritage Charter timeline, it was like a six-quarter period for elevated costs. Is that similarly the arc we should be thinking about for the new integration?

但從你們的內部整合方案來看，週期似乎是三年，那麼重複成本又會在哪個階段開始下降呢？因為我記得之前的Charter方案的時間軸顯示，成本高企的時期大約持續了六個季度。新的整合方案是否也應該遵循類似的週期？

Yes, so, Vijay, I'd love to lay out our own model for you here, but I can't. I think what I would tell you is that the fourth-quarter comment you made about volume significantly ramping already in the fourth quarter is -- I don't see that in the cards. Most of what we are doing for Spectrum pricing and packaging isn't beginning until mid-November and then continuing through December.

是的，Vijay，我很想在這裡詳細解釋一下我們的模式，但我做不到。我想告訴你的是，你之前提到的第四季銷量會大幅成長——我認為不太可能。我們為Spectrum制定的價格和套餐方案大部分要到11月中旬才會開始，並持續到12月。

So as that soaks through the marketplace, and even then, it is only half of the acquired footprint that would have been taken through Spectrum pricing and packaging, so I think we would be getting ahead of ourselves. I think it's fair to start looking at the business and thinking about it conservatively once Spectrum pricing and packaging is fully deployed across all the markets. And that is the right time to start thinking through. Already, where we have gone as Spectrum pricing and packaging, we are seeing uplift in sales, and it is material, and it is what we would expect, and it is what we saw at Charter.

因此，即使Spectrum定價和套餐模式已經滲透到市場，也只是涵蓋了收購用戶群的一半，所以我認為我們現在就下結論還為時過早。我認為，只有在Spectrum定價和套餐模式全面部署到所有市場之後，才應該開始謹慎地審視業務並進行思考。那時才是開始認真思考的好時機。目前，Spectrum定價和套餐模式已經帶來了銷售額的顯著成長，這符合我們的預期，也與我們在Charter公司看到的情況類似。

As it relates to these different initiatives that you described on the OpEx side, the curve could look a lot like Charter. Offsetting that is going to be the fact that we have transaction synergies here which we did not have in the previous Charter experience which will buffer that. And in addition to that, you have legacy Charter, which is still a large portion of the footprint that is growing at a very fast pace, not just from customer relationships.

關於您在營運支出方面提到的這些不同舉措，其曲線可能與Charter公司非常相似。但有一點可以彌補，那就是我們擁有Charter公司之前所不具備的交易協同效應，這將起到緩衝作用。此外，Charter公司的傳統業務仍然佔據著相當大的市場份額，並且正以非常快的速度成長，這不僅得益於客戶關係的維護。

But because our service transactions are coming down, our EBITDA growth, last time that we could really look at it on a completely standalone basis, far outstrip the revenue growth. I mentioned that was without taking a bunch of rate. So I am going to say it again. I know everybody is focused on how much ARPU can you get, but this is not an ARPU-driven strategy. It is a customer-growth-driven strategy, and it is one that is designed to take transactions out of the business. We did get some ARPU growth over time at legacy Charter. I think that will happen here, too. But that is not going to define our success one way or another.

但由於我們的服務交易量正在下降，我們上次能夠完全獨立分析EBITDA時，其成長速度遠遠超過了營收成長。我之前提到過，這還沒有計入大量的費率。所以我要再說一次。我知道大家都在關注ARPU（每用戶平均收入）能達到多少，但這並非一項以ARPU為導向的策略，而是以客戶成長為導向的策略，旨在減少交易量。我們在之前的Charter公司確實實現了ARPU的成長，我認為這裡也會如此。但這並不會決定我們最終的成敗。

Yes, it's really revenue per passing that you are looking at.

是的，你真正關注的是每次傳球帶來的收入。

Correct. And that is achieved through higher [pre-issues] per household and higher penetration per product and customer relationship growth. Those are the ones that matter.

沒錯。而這要透過提高每戶的預售​​額、提高每種產品的滲透率以及加強客戶關係來實現。這些才是最重要的。

And if I could just follow up on Spectrum Guide rollout on the heritage Charter, how is that going? And are we downloading both on VOD and IP, and is it scaling and all of that? Thanks.

請問Spectrum Guide在傳統Charter網路上的推廣情況如何？我們是否可以透過VOD和IP下載節目？推廣規模是否擴大？謝謝。

Yes, look, we are rolling that out across the historic Charter footprint, and we are prepared to roll it out next year inside the new price and packaging rollouts, not at the beginning of the year, but more toward the middle of the year. And that will become our standard user interface on every incremental sale that we make. And it will also be an opportunity for our existing customer base to change out, without a change in hardware, their UI based on whatever need they might have and whenever they might want to make that occur. So it is going well, and it is being rolled, and it is our game plan.

是的，我們正在Charter的所有老客戶群中推廣這項服務，並準備在明年新的價格和套餐推廣計劃中同步推出，不是在年初，而是在年中。這將成為我們所有新增銷售的標準使用者介面。同時，我們現有的客戶群也可以根據需要隨時更換使用者介面，而無需更換硬體。所以，一切進展順利，正在按計畫推進。

Great. Thank you so much.

太好了，非常感謝。

John Hodulik, UBS.

瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜利克。

First, a follow-up on the buyback question. You guys did $280 million in the buyback versus $1 billion in cash flow. Should we think of the $750 million authorization as sort of a cap on repurchases between now and when you restart the all-digital? And maybe if you could talk -- I know you want don't want to get caught in the formulaic equation here, but maybe the pacing on finishing that $750 million, or does the Board look at this periodically? I would imagine there are some people on the Board that really like buybacks.

首先，我想就股票回購問題做個後續跟進。你們回購了2.8億美元，現金流卻高達10億美元。我們是否應該把7.5億美元的授權額度看作是你們從現在到全面數位轉型這段時間內回購的上限？另外，如果您方便的話——我知道您不想陷入公式化的討論，但能否談談完成這7.5億美元回購的進度，或者董事會是否會定期審查？我想董事會裡應該有人非常支持股票回購。

And then, secondly, on the sub losses, you said that you would see the dislocation in Time Warner Cable through the repackaging and repricing. Do things get better or worse from here? Is there some hump that we get over, or is this 60,000 number a good number going forward for that time being? Thanks.

其次，關於用戶流失，您提到時代華納有線電視的重新包裝和重新定價將會帶來衝擊。情況接下來會好轉還是惡化？是否存在某個過渡期，或者說目前6萬這個數字已經可以接受？謝謝。

We may have to come back to the second question. I am not sure I could totally follow it. But on the first question, you'll see in the 10-Q that we filed today that the Board is authorized to start the clock anew following this Q3 earnings for the six-month window with the $750 million authorization. So, effectively, a reset. And so we continue to have, as we sit here today, $750 million available to us to be opportunistic over time.

我們可能需要再討論第二個問題。我不太確定我是否完全理解了。但關於第一季度，您會在我們今天提交的10-Q文件中看到，董事會已獲授權在第三季財報發布後，重新開始為期六個月的7.5億美元資金使用期限。所以，實際上，這相當於重置了期限。因此，截至目前，我們仍然擁有7.5億美元的資金，可以在未來抓住機會進行投資。

Got it. Okay. And on the subs, you said there would be dislocation on the Time Warner Cable properties until you finish the pricing and packaging. Is the level of losses that we saw this quarter about right through that period, or is there anything in terms of your plan that suggests it might get a little bit worse or get better through that period?

明白了。好的。關於訂閱服務，您曾說過在完成定價和套餐整合之前，時代華納有線電視的各項業務都會受到影響。我們本季看到的虧損水準是否與預期大致相符？或者說，您的計劃中是否有任何跡象表明，在此期間情況可能會略有惡化或改善？

No. We are working on ways of moderating that simultaneously to the rollout of pricing and packaging. So even if we were not rolling out pricing and packaging, which had a positive benefit to churn, we have done other things in our whole relationship process, which is difficult to do during a transition process, but we are making changes where we can to the benefit of the consumer and trying to preserve the customer base while we roll out new pricing and packaging.

不。我們正在努力尋找方法，在推出新價格和新包裝的同時，也能緩解這種情況。即使我們不推出新價格和新包裝（這對降低客戶流失率有積極作用），我們也在整個客戶關係維護過程中採取了其他措施。雖然在過渡時期很難做到這一點，但我們正在盡一切可能做出有利於消費者的改變，並努力在推出新價格和新包裝的同時留住客戶群。

So I wouldn't say that the number this quarter is a proxy for all future quarters until pricing and packaging is rolled out. But pricing and packaging will be fully rolled out by spring. And the question, then, is how fast does that flow through the business in a corrective way.

因此，在定價和包裝方案全面實施之前，我不會說本季的數據可以代表未來所有季度的走勢。但定價和包裝方案將在春季全面實施。屆時，問題在於這些調整能夠以多快的速度對業務產生糾正作用。

But if you look at what we did at Charter, a substantial amount of the customer base turns over every year into new pricing and packaging through both churn activity and through upgrade activity. And so it is a difficult thing to model. But we are coming at it both ways, both from creating a value proposition in the pricing and packaging we have, and doing those smart things that you can do with an existing customer base that is mispriced to move them in the right direction.

但如果你看看我們在Charter的做法，你會發現每年都有相當一部分客戶因為流失和升級而更換到新的價格和套餐。因此，這很難建模。但我們正採取雙管齊下的策略：一方面，透過我們現有的價格和套餐創造價值；另一方面，針對那些定價不合理的現有客戶，採取一些巧妙的措施，引導他們朝著正確的方向發展。

Got it. Thanks, guys.

明白了。謝謝各位。

Jessica Reif Cohen, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

傑西卡·雷夫·科恩，美國銀行美林證券。

I wanted to follow up on something Tom said in the opening remarks. Tom, you talked about testing addressable advertising. Can you give us some color on what your plans are there and when you will actually scale up? Your advertising numbers are already probably better than anybody, but what is it that you are planning, and how big can it be?

我想就湯姆在開場白中提到的一點進行後續探討。湯姆，你談到了測試定向廣告。你能詳細介紹一下你的計劃以及何時真正擴大規模嗎？你的廣告投放量可能已經超過了其他人，但你未來的計畫是什麼？規模又能達到多大？

Well, we have ambitions to make it a bigger business, and it is good right now. It is a political season, obviously. But in terms of the new Company, we will immediately start selling data-infused advertising in 2017. And we believe that that will give us a lift over our historic pattern of advertising growth, because our products will be worth more to our advertising. And we have a whole series of products that go forward from that. But, essentially, we have the ability to put ads we want to put them and to who we want to put them. And that capability should create a different value relationship with advertisers.

我們的目標是把公司發展壯大，目前情況良好。當然，現在正值政治時期。但就新公司而言，我們將在2017年立即開始銷售數據驅動型廣告。我們相信，這將使我們的廣告成長超越以往的水平，因為我們的產品對廣告商來說更有價值。我們還有一系列基於此的產品線。但歸根究底，我們有能力投放我們想投放的廣告，並精準地投放給目標受眾。這種能力應該能夠與廣告商建立一種全新的價值關係。

And then just a separate follow-up. Just a little bit of focus on wireless today. What do you think the timing to come to market will be with the wireless product?

然後還有一個後續問題。今天我們重點聊聊無線技術。您認為無線產品會在什麼時間上市？

Well, as we go down the path of an MVNO, it doesn't mean that we launch in intermediate fashion. It is a substantial business and requires significant planning and everything that -- it would be well toward the end of the year, if not the following year, before the business was actually substantial, meaning end of 2017, following into 2018.

嗯，當我們走上虛擬運營商（MVNO）這條路時，並不意味著我們會以中庸之道的方式推出業務。這是一項規模龐大的業務，需要周密的計畫和所有必要的準備——如果不是明年，至少也要到年底，也就是2017年底，業務才能真正發展到相當規模，並延續到2018年。

Okay. Thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Jonathan Chaplin, New Street Research.

喬納森‧查普林，新街研究公司。

Just a follow-up on the last question on wireless. When you say that it would probably be the end of 2017 into 2018 before the business is substantial, are you thinking in terms of before you have got a significant number of customers? Or it will take you that amount of time to roll an offering out across your entire footprint?

關於無線業務的最後一個問題，我再補充一點。您說業務要到2017年底到2018年才能達到相當規模，是指要累積大量客戶之後嗎？還是說要到那時才能在所有業務覆蓋區域全面推出這項服務？

And then, I am wondering if you could talk in a little bit more detail about how the economics of the product evolve from what it looks like with the MVNO to where you think it goes as you begin to be able to leverage 5G capabilities in conjunction with the wireless product.

然後，我想請您更詳細地談談，從 MVNO 模式到您認為隨著 5G 功能與無線產品結合使用，該產品的經濟效益將如何演變。

Well, I think to answer your question, it's the latter; it is really just standing up the business that I was talking about, not having a substantial customer count. And with regard to where it goes, I mean, I think the MVNO is an opportunity to create high-quality product intermixed with our existing high-quality products and create value for customers. And that has a tremendous potential to make the existing business model work better.

嗯，我覺得回答你的問題，答案是後者；它實際上只是我之前提到的業務搭建階段，而不是擁有大量客戶。至於它的未來發展方向，我認為虛擬營運商（MVNO）是一個機會，可以讓我們創造出與我們現有高品質產品相融合的高品質產品，從而為客戶創造價值。這具有巨大的潛力，能夠讓現有的商業模式運作得更好。

With regard to how that gets integrated, no, I think 5G-type technologies or millimeter wave technologies or small-cell, high-frequency, high-capacity, low-latency wireless networks are products that we will develop. They may or not be connected to an MVNO relationship or a mobility relationship. I think that there are opportunities to create wireless drops, in certain cases, so direct wireless connections that require -- that mimic a physical connection, to connect malls and other things in the enterprise space and buildings that are not contiguous or have big parking lots or, in some cases, low-density areas, it might make some sense.

至於如何整合這些技術，我認為5G技術、毫米波技術或小型基地台、高頻、高容量、低延遲的無線網路都是我們將要開發的產品。它們可能與行動虛擬網路營運商（MVNO）或行動營運商建立聯繫，也可能無法建立聯繫。我認為在某些情況下，我們可以創建無線接入點，也就是模擬物理連接的直接無線連接，用於連接商場、企業空間中的其他場所、不相鄰的建築物、大型停車場，或者在某些情況下，低密度區域，這可能很有意義。

And so the technology platform of these small high-capacity cells can work in a myriad of ways, both as line extension devices, as well as in-home devices that don't necessarily require mobility off the property, in-office devices that don't require mobility off property. So they don't have to be necessarily developed as a mobile service. So we are going to explore both paths.

因此，這些小型高容量基地台的技術平台可以以多種方式應用，既可以作為線路擴展設備，也可以作為無需外出移動的家用設備或辦公室設備。所以它們不一定要開發成行動服務。因此，我們將探索這兩種發展路徑。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Kannan Venkateshwar, Barclays.

Kannan Venkateshwar，巴克萊銀行。

Thank you. Just a couple of questions from me. First, on programming costs, there has been a little bit of a difference between your trajectory and Comcast's, and I'm guessing some of that is just the renewal cycle being different. But is there also any differences in terms of content portfolios? Comcast has been public about having full stacking rights and having the top 100 shows on TV and so on. So is there some differences in terms of what you guys are going for in terms of programming costs, which is defining some of the trajectory?

謝謝。我還有幾個問題。首先，關於節目製作成本，你們和康卡斯特（Comcast）的投入軌跡略有不同，我猜部分原因是續約週期不同。但內容組合方面是否有差異？康卡斯特曾公開表示擁有完整的節目版權，包括收視率最高的100個節目等等。那麼，你們在節目製作成本方面，也就是影響投入軌跡的因素方面，是否有一些不同的策略呢？

And, secondly, Tom, from a competitive pressure perspective, we are seeing a lot more news flow about companies like Google and potentially Amazon and, of course, the DIRECTV Now kind of packages coming in. How are you thinking about competition from the [virtual over] buildouts potentially in your footprint going forward? Thanks.

其次，湯姆，從競爭壓力角度來看，我們看到越來越多關於Google、亞馬遜以及DIRECTV Now等公司的新聞報導。您如何看待未來可能在您業務覆蓋範圍內出現的虛擬網路建置方面的競爭？謝謝。

I will answer the first question. I think the more likely difference, since we don't know what Comcast programming agreements cost or what they are, is still timing, if you are trying to compare the two companies, trajectory in any one fiscal year, because it is a lumpy kind of business. But I can't really -- that is speculative, without having any real information other than my experience.

我先回答第一個問題。我認為，由於我們不知道康卡斯特的節目製作協議的具體費用和內容，更可能的區別在於時間節點。如果要比較兩家公司，那麼在任何一個財年的發展軌跡都至關重要，因為這個產業的波動性很大。但我無法給出確切的答案——這只是我的推測，除了我的經驗之外，我沒有任何其他資訊。

And the transaction synergies that we have already.

以及我們已經擁有的交易協同效應。

Yes.

是的。

So just as a follow-up on that, is it fair to say that over time, as the renewal cycles catch up, the trajectory maybe over a four-year or a five-year period looks similar?

那麼，作為對上述問題的後續探討，是否可以這樣說，隨著時間的推移，更新周期逐漸跟上，四年或五年內的發展軌跡看起來會相似？

They tend to converge over a longer period of time historically. Whether they are seeking different rights than us or not, I don't know.

從歷史上看，他們的觀點往往在較長一段時間內趨於一致。至於他們是否尋求與我們不同的權利，我並不清楚。

Okay.

好的。

So if there were different rights structures and people were paying different amounts for those, and the industry practices diverged, that wouldn't be true. But all of the -- historically, it is true that they tend to converge over time.

所以，如果有不同的版權結構，人們為此支付的費用也不同，行業慣例也存在差異，那麼上述說法就不成立了。但從歷史角度來看，所有這些——它們確實會隨著時間的推移而趨於一致。

With regard to competition, how do we think about it? We think we have a great physical infrastructure and that it is underpenetrated, and that we have tremendous growth in front of us. We take our competitors seriously. We try to build better products that they do. And we think that we will be able to continue to do that for the foreseeable future.

關於競爭，我們是如何看待的？我們認為我們擁有完善的基礎設施，市場滲透率仍然很低，未來還有巨大的成長空間。我們認真看待競爭對手，努力打造比他們更好的產品。我們相信在可預見的未來，我們能夠繼續做到這一點。

We think we will win based on our pricing, packaging, and product mix. We think we will win based on our service business. And we think that the network that we have is underdeveloped in terms of its capabilities.

我們認為憑藉定價、包裝和產品組合，我們將贏得市場。我們認為憑藉服務業務，我們將贏得市場。而且我們認為，我們現有的網路在能力上還不夠完善。

All right. Thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Jeff Wlodarczak, Pivotal Research.

Jeff Wlodarczak，Pivotal Research。

A couple for Tom. Following up on that last question, how important is it for you all to offer additional skinnier TV packages, and where are you on launching those type of offerings?

給湯姆幾個問題。接著上一個問題，對你們來說，提供更多精簡的電視套餐​​有多重要？你們在推出這類套餐方面有什麼計畫？

And then, the SEC recently had a ruling on ISP data privacy. What are the likely effects on you all from that ruling?

此外，美國證券交易委員會（SEC）最近就網路服務供應商（ISP）的資料隱私問題做出了一項裁決。這項裁決可能會對你們產生哪些影響？

So with regard to skinny packaging, generally, the product sets that people offer in the market that are less than full services are available to us. And we have done experiments, although interestingly, the rate of customers that take full packages from us is increasing. So we are growing our video business. And the ratio, the mix of full-service product, what people would think of as a fat package, I guess, is actually increasing.

所以，就精簡包裝而言，一般來說，市場上那些服務內容少於全套服務的產品組合我們都能提供。我們做過一些實驗，有趣的是，選擇我們全套服務的客戶比例正在上升。因此，我們的視訊業務正在成長。而全套服務產品（也就是人們通常認為的「大套餐」）的比例，實際上也在增加。

So when we look at our opportunity, if we think there is a niche of market that could work with the products that are available, and they are not all -- they all have limitations in terms of being targetable to the nonsubscribing marketplace, which generally is lower income and out of the full-package market because of their income.

因此，當我們審視我們的機會時，如果我們認為存在一個市場區隔領域，可以使用現有產品，但並非所有產品都能——它們在針對非訂閱市場方面都存在局限性，而非訂閱市場通常收入較低，並且由於收入原因而無法使用全套產品。

And so we have the ability, I think, to continue to compete in that space if a product becomes available to us that actually satisfies a segment of the marketplace that is currently unserved. So far, we haven't found that magic mixture. We have sold some skinny packages ourselves. We have -- we continue to sell them. But the mix is actually going heavier.

因此，我認為，如果我們能找到一款真正滿足目前市場空白領域需求的產品，我們就有能力繼續在這個領域保持競爭力。到目前為止，我們還沒有找到那種完美的組合。我們自己也賣過一些輕薄包裝的產品，而且現在還在繼續賣。但實際上，產品組合正在朝著更厚重的方向發展。

So I think about it as an evolving landscape. To the extent that content companies want to let us sell in smaller packages that have lower penetrations, we would be glad to take advantage of that.

所以我認為這是一個不斷變化的環境。如果內容公司願意讓我們以滲透率較低的小包裝形式銷售，我們很樂意接受。

And then, the SEC's ruling on ISP data processing?

然後，美國證券交易委員會對網路服務供應商資料處理的裁決呢？

Oh, sorry. Look, it was worse than it ended up. And we would rather not have an inconsistent regulatory environment for us as ISPs relative to edge providers. And we think that is really wrong, and -- but it came a lot closer to the FTC model, not the FCC model, as originally proposed. And it is better, not perfect, but it is better.

哦，抱歉。你看，情況比最終結果要糟糕得多。我們作為網路服務供應商，不希望我們和邊緣服務供應商面臨不一致的監管環境。我們認為這非常不妥，而且——但它更接近聯邦貿易委員會（FTC）的模式，而不是最初提議的聯邦通信委員會（FCC）模式。它更好，雖然並不完美，但確實更好。

Got it. Thanks very much, guys.

明白了。非常感謝各位。

Thanks, everybody. That is it for our call. See you in a quarter.

謝謝大家。本次電話會議到此結束。下個季度再見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝大家。今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開連線了。