Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2019 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Charter's Fourth Quarter 2019 Investor Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Stefan Anninger.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位的耐心等待，歡迎參加Charter 2019年第四季投資者電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的通話將會被錄音。（操作員指示）現在我將把會議交給斯特凡·安寧格。

Good morning, and welcome to Charter's fourth quarter 2019 investor call. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, ir.charter.com, under the Financial Information section.

早安，歡迎參加Charter公司2019年第四季投資人電話會議。本次電話會議的簡報可在我們的網站 ir.charter.com 的「財務資訊」部分找到。

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 10-K filed this morning. We will not review those risk factors and other cautionary statements on this call. However, we encourage you to read them carefully. 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.

在我們繼續之前，我想提醒各位，我們的美國證券交易委員會文件中包含許多風險因素和其他警示性聲明，包括我們今天早上提交的最新 10-K 表格。本次電話會議我們將不討論這些風險因素和其他警示性聲明。不過，我們建議您仔細閱讀。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評論構成前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與歷史結果或預期結果有所不同。

Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current view only, and Charter undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements or to make additional forward-looking statements in the future. 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. 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.

任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，Charter 不承擔任何義務修改或更新此類陳述，也不承擔未來作出其他前瞻性陳述的義務。在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及我們在獲利資料中定義和調整的非GAAP指標。根據 Charter 的定義，這些非 GAAP 指標可能與其他公司使用的類似名稱的指標不具可比性。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, our Chairman and CEO; and Chris Winfrey, our CFO. With that, let's turn the call over to Tom.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的董事長兼執行長湯姆·拉特利奇，以及我們的財務長克里斯·溫弗瑞。那麼，我們把電話交給湯姆吧。

Thank you, Stefan. Our operating strategy continues to deliver strong results, and we remain focused on driving customer growth by delivering superior services and value to our customers; improving the quality of our operations by reducing unnecessary service transactions and truck rolls per customer; delivering sustainable free cash flow growth by driving EBITDA growth while reducing capital intensity; and finally, positioning our company for long-term customer relationship growth with current and new products by continuing to evolve a fully converged network that delivers high-speed, low-latency seamless connectivity services inside or outside customers' homes, in sedentary environments or on the move.

謝謝你，斯特凡。我們的營運策略持續取得強勁成效，我們將繼續專注於透過向客戶提供卓越的服務和價值來推動客戶成長；透過減少每位客戶不必要的服務交易和上門服務次數來提高營運品質；透過推動 EBITDA成長並降低資本密集度來實現可持續的自由現金流成長；最後，透過不斷發展一個完全整合的網絡，為客戶在家中或家外、在靜態環境或行動環境中提供高速、低延遲的無縫連接服務，從而使公司能夠透過現有和新產品與客戶建立長期關係並實現成長。

In 2019, we created over 1.1 million new customer relationships, substantially more than 2018. And we added over 1.4 million new Internet customers also more than 2018. We grew our full year cable adjusted EBITDA by 6.6% in a nonpolitical advertising year. And combined with our lower cable capital expenditures, our 2019 cable free cash flow grew by over 100% year-over-year. We expect that our cable EBITDA growth, combined with our declining capital intensity and disciplined capital deployment strategy will drive continued strong free cash flow growth.

2019年，我們建立了超過110萬個新的客戶關係，比2018年大幅成長。與 2018 年相比，我們新增了超過 140 萬網路用戶。在非政治廣告年份，我們全年有線電視調整後 EBITDA 成長了 6.6%。再加上我們較低的有線電視資本支出，我們 2019 年的有線電視自由現金流年增超過 100%。我們預計，有線電視業務的 EBITDA 成長，加上資本密集度的下降和嚴格的資本部署策略，將推動自由現金流持續強勁成長。

Our mobile business is a strategic extension of our core connectivity capabilities today and in the future and it continues to grow. We now have well over 1 million mobile lines in service with over 900,000 of those added in 2019 at an accelerating pace. In 2019, we saw a substantial reduction in service transactions per customer relationships, and those improvements were reflected in lower per relationship repair calls, trouble call truck rolls and billing calls. We also performed fewer physical installation truck rolls, giving growing levels of self-installation activity.

我們的行動業務是我們當前和未來核心連接能力的策略延伸，並且它將持續成長。目前我們擁有超過 100 萬條行動線路投入使用，其中 2019 年新增超過 90 萬條，新增速度仍在持續加速中。2019 年，我們看到每個客戶關係的服務交易量大幅減少，這些改進體現在每個客戶關係的維修電話、故障呼叫卡車出車次數和計費電話的減少。我們也減少了現場安裝卡車的出車次數，從而促進了自助安裝活動的增加。

Looking forward to 2020, we're well positioned to continue to reduce service activity per customer, given a higher level of customers in Spectrum pricing and packaging, the completion of our in-sourcing program and increasingly experienced in-sourced call center and field operations workforces, the overall improving quality, reliability and maintenance of our network, greater levels of online service activity -- self-service activity and growing levels of self-installation activity, as I mentioned, which in the fourth quarter exceeded 50% of sales.

展望 2020 年，鑑於 Spectrum 定價和套餐客戶數量的增加、內部業務拓展計劃的完成以及內部呼叫中心和現場運營人員經驗的日益豐富、網絡整體質量、可靠性和維護水平的提高、在線服務活動（自助服務活動）和自助安裝活動（如我所提到的，第四季度自助安裝活動銷售額的 50% 以上）的增加，我們有信心佔客戶服務的 50% 以上。

So in 2020, these lower levels of overall service activity per customer relationship should continue improvements in customer satisfaction, lower churn and a reduction in cost to service customers per customer relationship.

因此，在 2020 年，每個客戶關係的整體服務活動水準降低，應該會繼續提高客戶滿意度，降低客戶流失率，並降低每個客戶關係的服務成本。

Our in-home connectivity product set also continues to improve, with 85% of our residential Internet customers now receiving minimum Internet speeds of 100 megabits or more and nearly half receiving minimum speeds of 200 megabits or more. We continue to offer 400 megabits, our Ultra product and our gigabit speed tier across our entire footprint. We made our network capable of providing gigabit service everywhere we operate using DOCSIS 3.1 technology over the course of 13 months for $450 million in plant capital.

我們的家庭網路連線產品組合也不斷改進，目前 85% 的住宅網路使用者可享有至少 100 兆位元的最低網路速度，近一半的使用者可享有至少 200 兆位元的最低網路速度。我們將繼續在我們所有服務區域提供 400 兆比特、Ultra 產品和千兆速度套餐。我們利用 DOCSIS 3.1 技術，在 13 個月內投入 4.5 億美元的基礎設施資本，使我們的網路能夠在我們營運的任何地方提供千兆服務。

Through our 10G plan, we also have a cost-efficient pathway to offer multi-gigabit speeds and lower latency to consumers and businesses that continue to attach more devices to our network, use more and more data on a daily basis and are demanding greater network responsiveness and reliability.

透過我們的 10G 計劃，我們還提供了一條經濟高效的途徑，為不斷將更多設備連接到我們的網路、每天使用越來越多的數據並要求更高的網路響應速度和可靠性的消費者和企業提供多千兆位元速度和更低的延遲。

During the quarter, we also continued to deploy our advanced home WiFi capabilities to new markets beyond Austin, Texas, including Dallas, San Antonio and portions of Southern California. Our advanced WiFi capability provides enhanced security, privacy and app-based control over all IP devices in our consumers' homes, while simultaneously delivering a superior customer experience through better in-home WiFi coverage and managed WiFi solution through dynamic band switching and channel optimization within the band. So far, our deployment has gone well and we plan to roll out this capability throughout our entire footprint.

本季度，我們也繼續將先進的家庭 WiFi 功能推廣到德州奧斯汀以外的新市場，包括達拉斯、聖安東尼奧和南加州的部分地區。我們先進的 WiFi 功能可增強用戶家中所有 IP 設備的安全性、隱私性和基於應用程式的控制，同時透過動態頻段切換和頻段內通道優化，提供更好的家庭 WiFi 覆蓋範圍和管理型 WiFi 解決方案，從而帶來卓越的客戶體驗。到目前為止，我們的部署進展順利，我們計劃將這項功能推廣到我們所有的業務區域。

Our Spectrum Mobile business continues to grow quickly, and we added over 280,000 lines in the fourth quarter, more than we added in the third quarter. While it's still early, we believe that our results so far indicate our mobile product drives core connectivity customer satisfaction and will generate stand-alone profitability at scale. We also continue to test dual SIM technology using CBRS Spectrum via small cells mounted on our own high-capacity two-way network. Our tests continue to go very well.

我們的 Spectrum Mobile 業務持續快速成長，第四季新增了超過 28 萬條線路，比第三季新增的線路還要多。雖然現在下結論還為時過早，但我們相信，目前為止的結果表明，我們的行動產品能夠提升核心連結客戶滿意度，並將在規模上產生獨立的獲利能力。我們還將繼續測試使用 CBRS 頻譜的雙 SIM 卡技術，該技術透過安裝在我們自己的高容量雙向網路上的小型基地台來實現。我們的測試進展非常順利。

We continue to add features and functionality to our Spectrum Mobile product. And in the first quarter, we plan to offer 5G mobile service. I will turn the call over to Chris.

我們將繼續為 Spectrum Mobile 產品新增特性和功能。第一季度，我們計劃推出 5G 行動服務。我將把電話轉給克里斯。

Thanks, Tom. Before covering our results, a quick reminder that we closed the sale of NaviSite, a managed cloud services business within Spectrum Enterprise, in September. We have not prepared pro forma financials so our reported results include NaviSite in the fourth quarter of 2018, but not in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the next few quarters, I will discuss enterprise revenue growth, including and excluding NaviSite for comparability. On an annual basis, NaviSite generated roughly $150 million in revenue and its impact on our EBITDA and CapEx was not material.

謝謝你，湯姆。在介紹我們的業績之前，快速提醒一下，我們在 9 月完成了 NaviSite 的出售，NaviSite 是 Spectrum Enterprise 旗下的託管雲端服務公司。我們沒有編製考財務報表，因此我們報告的業績包括 2018 年第四季的 NaviSite，但不包括 2019 年第四季的 NaviSite。接下來的幾個季度，我將討論企業營收成長情況，為了方便比較，會分別討論是否將 NaviSite 納入其中。NaviSite 每年創造約 1.5 億美元的收入，對我們的 EBITDA 和資本支出沒有重大影響。

Turning to our results on Slide 5. Over the last 12 months, we grew total residential and SMB customer relationships by over 1.1 million or 4% and by 268,000 in the fourth quarter. Including residential and SMB, we grew our Internet customers by 339,000 in the quarter and by 1.4 million or 5.6% over the last 12 months.

請參閱投影片 5 的結果。在過去的 12 個月中，我們的住宅和中小企業客戶關係總數增加了 110 萬多，增幅達 4%，第四季度增加了 26.8 萬。包括住宅用戶和中小企業用戶在內，本季我們的網路用戶增加了 33.9 萬，過去 12 個月增加了 140 萬，增幅達 5.6%。

Video declined by 101,000 in the quarter, wireline voice declined by 128,000 and we added 288,000 higher ARPU mobile lines. At the end of the fourth quarter, 85% of our residential customers were in Spectrum pricing and packaging. And residential customer relationship growth accelerated to 3.8% year-over-year.

本季視訊用戶減少了 101,000 人，固話用戶減少了 128,000 人，但我們新增了 288,000 條 ARPU 更高的行動線路。在第四季末，我們 85% 的住宅客戶都採用了 Spectrum 的定價和套餐服務。住宅客戶關係成長加速至年增 3.8%。

As we look to 2020, our goal is to accelerate our full year customer growth rate as we deliver highly competitive products with better service, driving connects and reducing churn. In residential Internet, we added a total of 313,000 customers in the quarter, resulting in residential Internet customer growth of 5.4% year-over-year, driven by continuing churn improvement.

展望 2020 年，我們的目標是透過提供更具競爭力的產品和更好的服務，提高客戶連線率並降低客戶流失率，從而加快全年客戶成長率。本季度，我們在住宅網路領域新增了 313,000 名客戶，住宅網路客戶年增 5.4%，主要得益於客戶流失率的持續改善。

In residential video, we lost 105,000 customers in the quarter, primarily driven by lower video gross additions year-over-year. And in wireline voice, we lost 152,000 residential customers in the quarter, driven by lower sell-in following our transition to selling mobile in the bundle and continued fixed to mobile substitution in the market generally.

在住宅影片領域，我們本季流失了 105,000 名客戶，主要原因是影片新增用戶數較去年同期下降。在固話業務方面，由於我們轉型將行動電話業務捆綁銷售後銷量下降，以及市場上普遍出現固定電話被行動電話業務替代的趨勢，本季度我們失去了 15.2 萬戶住宅用戶。

Turning to mobile. We added 288,000 total mobile lines in the quarter, driven by the value of our mobile product offers, growing brand and product awareness and increased sales effectiveness. As of December 31, we had nearly 1.1 million lines with a healthy mix of both Unlimited and By the Gig lines.

轉向移動端。本季我們新增了 288,000 條行動線路，這得益於我們行動產品的價值、不斷提高的品牌和產品知名度以及銷售效率的提升。截至 12 月 31 日，我們擁有近 110 萬條線路，其中無限流量線路和按流量計費線路的比例均衡。

Spectrum Mobile continues to scale with less EBITDA loss per line even at an accelerating net addition rate, and that does not include any benefits to our traditional cable connectivity business. Over the last year, we grew total residential customers by just over 1 million or 3.8%. Residential revenue per residential customer relationship grew by 1.8% year-over-year, given a lower rate of SPP migration and promotional campaign roll off and rate adjustments. Those ARPU benefits were partly offset by a higher mix of nonvideo customers, higher mix of streaming and lighter video packages within our video base and $29 million of lower pay-per-view revenue year-over-year in the quarter.

Spectrum Mobile 的規模持續擴大，即使淨新增用戶速度加快，每條線路的 EBITDA 虧損也減少，而且這還不包括我們傳統有線連接業務的任何收益。過去一年，我們的住宅用戶總數增加了 100 多萬，增幅為 3.8%。由於 SPP 遷移率降低、促銷活動結束和費率調整，住宅客戶關係的住宅收入年增 1.8%。ARPU 的這些收益部分被以下因素抵消：非視訊客戶比例較高、視訊用戶群中串流媒體和輕量級視訊套餐的比例較高，以及本季按次付費收入同比下降 2900 萬美元。

Our cable ARPU does not reflect any mobile revenue, but Q4 especially benefited from the timing of the rate adjustment this year. As Slide 6 shows, our cable customer growth combined with that elevated Q4 ARPU growth resulted in year-over-year residential revenue growth of 5.7%.

我們的有線電視 ARPU 不包含任何行動收入，但第四季尤其受益於今年的費率調整時機。如投影片 6 所示，我們的有線電視用戶成長加上第四季 ARPU 的顯著成長，使得住宅收入年增了 5.7%。

Turning to commercial. SMB revenue grew by 6.3%, faster than last quarter, as the revenue effect from the repricing of our SMB products and Legacy TWC and Bright House continues to slow. SMB customer relationships grew by 6.8% year-over-year. Enterprise revenue declined by 4.5% year-over-year, driven by the sale of NaviSite and some one-time cell tower backhaul fees that we mentioned as a benefit in the fourth quarter of 2018. Excluding NaviSite from the fourth quarter of 2018, enterprise revenue grew by 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019. And excluding both cell tower backhaul and NaviSite, enterprise grew by 8.5%. I expect that retail portion of enterprise to continue to grow nicely and that the wholesale piece, including cell tower backhaul, will continue to be challenging.

轉向商業用途。由於我們的中小企業產品以及傳統TWC和Bright House產品重新定價帶來的營收影響持續放緩，中小企業收入成長了6.3%，比上一季成長更快。中小企業客戶關係年增 6.8%。企業營收年減 4.5%，主要原因是出售 NaviSite 以及我們在 2018 年第四季提到的部分一次性蜂巢塔回程費用。如果將 NaviSite 從 2018 年第四季剔除，2019 年第四季企業營收成長了 1.3%。如果排除蜂巢塔回傳和 NaviSite，企業業務成長了 8.5%。我預計零售業務部分將繼續保持良好成長勢頭，而批發業務部分（包括手機訊號塔回程連結）將繼續面臨挑戰。

Fourth quarter advertising revenue declined by 23% due to less political revenue in 2019. Our nonpolitical advertising grew -- revenue grew by 4.6% year-over-year, primarily due to our advanced advertising capabilities and recently deployed products that efficiently sell highly viewed long-tailed inventory using our own anonymized and much more detailed viewing data.

由於 2019 年政治收入減少，第四季廣告收入下降了 23%。我們的非政治廣告業務成長了——收入同比增長 4.6%，這主要歸功於我們先進的廣告能力以及最近部署的產品，這些產品利用我們自己的匿名化和更詳細的觀看數據，有效地銷售了觀看次數多的長尾廣告位。

As we look to the full year 2020, we expect continued ad growth, driven by our advanced advertising business and a healthy year of political revenue. Other revenue declined by 6.6% year-over-year, driven by lower processing fees and lower home shopping revenues related to video subscriber declines, partly offset by higher levels of video CPEs sold to customers. Mobile revenue totaled $236 million with $138 million of that being device revenue.

展望 2020 年全年，我們預期廣告業務將持續成長，這得益於我們先進的廣告業務和健康的政治收入。其他收入年減 6.6%，主要原因是處理費減少以及與視訊用戶減少相關的家庭購物收入減少，但部分被向客戶銷售的視訊 CPE 數量增加所抵消。行動業務收入總計 2.36 億美元，其中設備收入為 1.38 億美元。

In total, consolidated fourth quarter revenue was up 4.7% year-over-year. Cable revenue growth, excluding mobile, was 3.4% or 5.2% when excluding advertising in both years and NaviSite in 2018.

第四季綜合營收年增 4.7%。有線電視收入（不包括行動業務）在這兩年均為 3.4%，如果不包括廣告收入，則為 5.2%；2018 年還不包括 NaviSite 的收入。

Moving to operating expenses on Slide 7. In the fourth quarter, total operating expenses grew by $165 million or 2.3% year-over-year. Cable operating expenses, excluding mobile, were essentially flat or up 0.6% when excluding NaviSite, and that's despite strong relationship and revenue growth.

接下來看第 7 張投影片，了解營運費用。第四季度，營運費用總額年增 1.65 億美元，增幅為 2.3%。不包括行動業務在內的有線電視營運支出基本上持平或成長 0.6%（不包括 NaviSite），儘管客戶關係和收入成長強勁。

Programming increased 0.6% year-over-year due to higher rates that was offset by a video customer decline of 2.8% year-over-year, a higher mix of streaming and lighter video packages, such as Choice and Stream, and lower pay-per-view expenses year-over-year tied to the $29 million of lower pay-per-view revenue I mentioned.

由於費率上漲，節目製作費用同比增長 0.6%，但視頻用戶同比下降 2.8%，串流媒體和較輕型視訊套餐（如 Choice 和 Stream）的比例增加，以及與我提到的 2900 萬美元的付費觀看收入下降相關的按次付費觀看支出同比下降，抵消了這一增長。

Looking at full year 2020, we expect programming cost per video customer to grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range. Regulatory, connectivity and produced content grew by 4.3%, and that was driven by higher cost of video CPE sold to customers and original programming cost. Cost to service customers declined by 2.3% year-over-year compared to 4% customer relationship growth. So we're meaningfully lowering our per relationship service costs through a number of operating, quality and efficiency improvements, which is core to our strategy.

展望 2020 年全年，我們預計每位視訊客戶的節目製作成本將以中位數個位數百分比成長。監管、連接和內容製作增長了 4.3%，這主要是由於向客戶銷售的視訊 CPE 成本和原創節目成本的增加。客戶服務成本年減 2.3%，而客戶關係成長率為 4%。因此，我們透過一系列營運、品質和效率的改進，大幅降低了每項客戶關係服務的成本，這是我們策略的核心。

Key metrics like calls per customer, truck rolls per customer, churn and self-install rates all continue to move in the right direction, as Tom mentioned. Looking ahead, we expect further declines in cost to service customers on a per customer relationship basis, but this quarter's level of operational productivity was exceptional and it won't be replicated every single quarter.

正如湯姆所提到的那樣，每位客戶的通話次數、每位客戶的上門服務次數、客戶流失率和自助安裝率等關鍵指標都在朝著正確的方向發展。展望未來，我們預計按客戶關係計算的客戶服務成本將進一步下降，但本季的營運效率水準非常出色，不可能每季都達到。

Cable marketing expenses increased by 2.1% year-over-year, and other cable expenses were down 1.4%, driven by lower ad sales cost, which reverses in a political year, and lower cost related to the sale of NaviSite, which will carry through the third quarter of this year. Mobile expenses totaled $372 million and they were comprised of mobile device costs tied to device revenue, customer acquisition and net MVNO usage costs and operating costs to stand up and operate the business.

有線電視行銷費用年增 2.1%，其他有線電視費用年減 1.4%，主要原因是廣告銷售成本下降（在政治年會出現逆轉），以及與出售 NaviSite 相關的成本降低（該成本將延續到今年第三季）。行動支出總計 3.72 億美元，其中包括與設備收入相關的行動裝置成本、客戶獲取成本和 MVNO 淨使用成本以及建立和營運業務的營運成本。

Our 2020 mobile EBITDA probably looks similar to 2019 due to growth and scale costs. But looking even further, our current expectation is that in 2021, our mobile service revenue will exceed all regular operating costs, excluding acquisition and growth-related mobile costs.

由於成長和規模成本，我們 2020 年的行動業務 EBITDA 可能與 2019 年類似。但展望未來，我們目前的預期是，到 2021 年，我們的行動服務收入將超過所有常規營運成本，不包括收購和成長相關的行動成本。

Turning to EBITDA. We grew total adjusted EBITDA by 8.8% in the quarter when including the mobile EBITDA start-up loss of $136 million. Cable adjusted EBITDA grew by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, including a roughly 3% negative growth rate impact from advertising revenue, net of its associated expense in both periods.

接下來看 EBITDA。本季度，包括行動業務 EBITDA 新創虧損 1.36 億美元在內，我們調整後的 EBITDA 總額成長了 8.8%。第四季有線電視業務調整後 EBITDA 成長 8.9%，其中包括廣告收入約 3% 的負成長率影響（扣除相關費用後），這兩個季度均如此。

Turning to net income on Slide 8. We generated $714 million of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the fourth quarter versus $296 million last year. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher adjusted EBITDA and a loss on financial instruments in the prior year period, partly offset by higher income tax expense.

接下來看投影片 8 的淨收入。第四季度，我們實現了歸屬於 Charter 股東的 7.14 億美元淨收入，而去年同期為 2.96 億美元。年成長主要得益於去年同期調整後 EBITDA 的增加和金融工具的虧損，但部分被更高的所得稅支出所抵銷。

Turning to Slide 9. Capital expenditures totaled $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter with our cable CapEx declining about $200 million year-over-year, driven by the same CPE trends, DOCSIS 3.1 benefits and lower insourcing and integration costs I've mentioned throughout the year. We spent $151 million on mobile-related CapEx this quarter, which is mostly accounted for in support capital. And it was driven by software and development costs and retail footprint upgrades for mobile.

翻到第 9 張投影片。第四季資本支出總計 23 億美元，其中有線電視資本支出年減約 2 億美元，這主要受我全年提到的 CPE 趨勢、DOCSIS 3.1 的優勢以及內部化和整合成本降低的影響。本季我們在行動相關資本支出上花費了 1.51 億美元，其中大部分用於支持性資本支出。而這主要是由軟體和開發成本以及行動裝置零售佈局升級所驅動的。

In 2020, we expect our mobile capital expenditures to be similar to 2019 and then decline meaningfully in 2021 as that work will be behind us. That mobile CapEx outlook excludes any potential mid-band spectrum acquisition and build-out, which would be based on a separate ROI evaluation.

2020 年，我們預計行動領域的資本支出將與 2019 年類似，然後在 2021 年大幅下降，因為這項工作將告一段落。此行動資本支出展望不包括任何潛在的中頻段頻譜獲取和建設，這需要根據單獨的投資回報率評估來確定。

In 2020, we expect our cable CapEx intensity to continue to decline from the 15% in 2019. And on an absolute dollar basis, we don't expect our cable capital expenditures to be meaningfully different from 2019 levels. Similar to what I just said about our mobile capital expenditures, if we find new high ROI projects during the course of the year, where that accelerated spend on existing projects could drive faster growth, we'd still do so.

2020年，我們預期電纜資本支出強度將持續從2019年的15%下降。從絕對美元金額來看，我們預期有線電視資本支出與 2019 年的水準不會有實質差異。就像我剛才說的關於我們行動資本支出的情況一樣，如果我們在一年中發現新的高投資回報率項目，而加速對現有項目的支出可以推動更快的增長，我們仍然會這樣做。

The Slide 10 shows we generated $1.6 billion of consolidated free cash flow this quarter. And excluding our investment in mobile, we generated $1.9 billion of cable free cash flow, up $700 million versus last year's fourth quarter. For the full year 2019, we generated $5.8 billion of cable free cash flow, up $3 billion versus 2018 despite a cable working capital headwind of $800 million this past year.

第 10 張投影片顯示，本季我們產生了 16 億美元的合併自由現金流。除去我們在行動領域的投資，我們產生了 19 億美元的無有線電視現金流，比去年第四季增加了 7 億美元。2019 年全年，我們創造了 58 億美元的有線電視自由現金流，比 2018 年增加了 30 億美元，儘管去年有線電視營運資本面臨 8 億美元的不利因素。

For the full year 2020, we would expect cable working capital to improve significantly with a neutral to slightly negative impact on our cash flow. We'll still have typical seasonal swings, including the first quarter, in which our working capital is most always a use of cash. With respect to mobile working capital, we continue to add mobile customers at an elevated pace, which will continue to drive handset-related working capital needs in 2020.

預計 2020 年全年，有線電視業務的營運資金將顯著改善，對我們的現金流將產生中性至略微負面的影響。我們仍然會有典型的季節性波動，包括第一季，在這一季度，我們的營運資金幾乎總是以現金形式使用。就行動營運資金而言，我們持續以較高的速度增加行動客戶，這將繼續推動 2020 年與手機相關的營運資金需求。

In any event, our free cash flow profile improved significantly last year. We're positioned to continue to couple our free cash flow growth with our return-focused investment and capital structure strategy. We finished the year with $78.4 billion in debt principal and $74.9 billion in net debt. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $4 billion and as of the end of the fourth quarter, our net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 4.45x at the high end of our 4 to 4.5x leverage range.

總之，我們去年的自由現金流狀況顯著改善。我們已做好準備，繼續將自由現金流成長與以回報為導向的投資和資本結構策略相結合。年底時，我們的債務本金為 784 億美元，淨債務為 749 億美元。我們目前的年化現金利息支出為 40 億美元，截至第四季度末，我們的淨債務與過去 12 個月調整後的 EBITDA 之比為 4.45 倍，處於我們 4 至 4.5 倍槓桿率範圍的高端。

And when calculating our leverage, we include the upfront investment in mobile to be more conservative than looking at cable-only leverage, which was now 4.31x at the end of the fourth quarter.

在計算槓桿率時，我們把行動業務的前期投資也考慮在內，這樣比只考慮有線電視業務的槓桿率要保守一些，截至第四季度末，有線電視業務的槓桿率為 4.31 倍。

During the quarter, we repurchased 5.6 million Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units, totaling about $2.6 billion at an average price of $459 per share. For the full year 2019, we repurchased over $7.6 billion of our equity. In September of 2016, we've repurchased over $27 billion or a bit more than 25% of Charter's equity at an average price of $346 per share.

本季度，我們回購了560萬股Charter股票和Charter Holdings普通股，總計約26億美元，平均每股價格為459美元。2019 年全年，我們回購了超過 76 億美元的股權。2016 年 9 月，我們以每股 346 美元的平均價格回購了超過 270 億美元，約佔 Charter 公司 25% 以上的股權。

Turning to taxes. On Slide 2, our tax assets are primarily composed of our NOL and our tax receivables arrangement with Advance/Newhouse. We now don't anticipate becoming a meaningful federal cash taxpayer until 2022, with some modest federal cash tax payments beginning in late 2021 as we expect the bulk of our existing NOL to be utilized by the end of that year.

接下來談談稅務問題。在第 2 張投影片中，我們的稅務資產主要由我們的淨營業虧損和與 Advance/Newhouse 的應收稅款安排組成。我們現在預計要到 2022 年才會成為重要的聯邦現金納稅人，從 2021 年末開始會有一些適度的聯邦現金稅款支付，因為我們預計到當年年底，我們現有的大部分淨經營虧損 (NOL) 將被使用。

For the years 2022 through 2024, we expect our federal and state cash taxes to approximate our consolidated EBITDA less our capital expenditures and less our cash interest expense multiplied by 21% to 23%. That estimate would include partnership tax distributions to Advance/Newhouse, captured separately in cash flows from financing in the financial statements.

2022 年至 2024 年，我們預計聯邦和州現金稅收將大致相當於我們的合併 EBITDA 減去資本支出和現金利息支出乘以 21% 至 23%。此估算將包括支付給 Advance/Newhouse 的合夥企業稅款，這些稅款將在財務報表的融資現金流量中單獨列示。

There are multiple factors that impact what I just described and we're always looking for ways to improve our cash tax profile, but it's a good baseline for today.

我剛才描述的情況受到多種因素的影響，我們一直在尋找改善現金稅收狀況的方法，但就目前而言，這是一個很好的基準。

So we're pleased with our results, and we believe in our operating strategy, our network capabilities and the balance sheet strategy, which all work in concert to create value over a long period of time. Charter is an infrastructure asset with strong growth characteristics and cash flow yield. We have a lot of ancillary products to use for and sell on top of our core connectivity services that, when combined with good value and service, will drive cash flow growth with tax-advantaged levered equity returns.

因此，我們對所取得的成果感到滿意，我們相信我們的營運策略、網路能力和資產負債表策略，所有這些因素共同作用，能夠在長期內創造價值。Charter 是一項具有強勁成長特性和現金流收益的基礎設施資產。除了我們的核心連接服務之外，我們還有許多輔助產品可供使用和銷售。這些產品與良好的價值和服務相結合，將透過享有稅收優惠的槓桿股權回報來推動現金流成長。

Operator, we're now ready for Q&A.

操作員，我們現在可以進入問答環節了。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of John Hodulik from UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜利克。

Chris, you gave a lot of good detail on some of the cost metrics as we look out into 2020. And the 200 basis points you guys saw in cable margin improvement this quarter, especially with the advertising headwind, I think, was really the highlight. But putting it all together in terms of the programming, the cost to serve continuing to come down. How should we think of cable margin trends heading into 2020 here?

克里斯，你詳細介紹了 2020 年的一些成本指標。你們在本季看到的有線電視利潤率提高了 200 個基點，尤其是在廣告業面臨逆風的情況下，我認為這才是真正的亮點。但從節目製作的角度來看，服務成本持續下降。我們該如何看待2020年有線電視利潤率的趨勢？

Sure. Look, on one hand, you had a headwind, as you mentioned, political advertising not being in the fourth quarter of 2019. On the other hand, we had some fairly exceptional pieces that were taking place as well. The timing of our rate increase was earlier inside of Q4 2019 than it had been in prior years. And so I think that results in a higher ARPU per customer relationship growth than what would be sustainable either prior to that quarter or inside of 2020. So you need to take that into account. I think that growth rate, given the subscriber mix, could look a lot more like what we saw for the full year of 2019 than it would -- what we saw in Q4.

當然。一方面，正如你所提到的，你遇到了不利因素，2019 年第四季政治廣告並不活躍。另一方面，我們也看到了一些相當特別的事件發生。2019 年第四季，我們的升息時間比往年提早了。因此，我認為這將帶來比該季度之前或 2020 年內可持續的更高的每客戶關係平均收入成長。所以你需要把這一點考慮進去。我認為，考慮到用戶組成，成長率可能會更接近 2019 年全年的成長率，而不是第四季的成長率。

The second thing I'd mention is that programming had done very well on a gross and per customer relationship basis. I think it will still do well relative to other years. But we expect mid-single digit per customer relationship growth in programming costs in 2020. And then finally, as I mentioned, the cost to serve was exceptional in the fourth quarter. Our cost to serve per customer relationship has been declining. It's going to continue to decline is our expectation. But to have an actual gross decline, a significant one inside of a quarter, was a big step down. And I just wouldn't coach people to replicate that every single quarter. So then working against that, again, I'm not giving guidance, but the ways to help you to build a model, particularly later in the year. We expect this to be a pretty good year for political advertising. So all in, I think it's going to move around and it's not something that we actively manage inside the business. What we're managing is can we grow customer relationships faster and that's our goal, which would then drive better revenue growth, which continues to be our goal to grow faster. And it has been our experience and it continues to be our goal to grow EBITDA at a faster rate than our revenue growth rate with or without a political advertising year. So that's, I think, the right way to think about it. And not to get particularly hung up in a particular quarter of year-over-year comparison on a margin rate, but what's happening with the underlying trend.

第二點我想提的是，程式設計在整體收益和每位客戶關係方面都表現得非常出色。我認為與往年相比，今年的表現仍然會不錯。但我們預計 2020 年每個客戶關係的程式成本將以中位數個位數百分比成長。最後，正如我之前提到的，第四季的服務成本異常高昂。我們服務每位客戶的成本一直在下降。我們預計它會繼續下降。但在一個季度內出現實際的大幅下滑，這是一個很大的倒退。我不會指導大家每季都這樣做。所以，為了應對這種情況，我再次強調，我並不是提供指導，而是在提供一些方法來幫助你們建立模型，尤其是在今年稍後。我們預計今年政治廣告市場會相當不錯。總而言之，我認為它會不斷變化，而這並不是我們在公司內部積極管理的事情。我們正在努力實現的是更快地發展客戶關係，這是我們的目標，這將推動更好的收入成長，而更快成長仍然是我們的目標。根據我們的經驗，無論有沒有政治廣告，我們都要以比營收成長率更快的速度實現 EBITDA 的成長，而這仍然是我們的目標。所以，我認為這才是正確的思考方式。我們不應該過度糾結於某一季度同比利潤率的比較，而應該關注潛在的趨勢。

Our next question comes from the line of Philip Cusick with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的菲利普·庫西克。

Following up there, Chris. You talked about lower video gross adds year-over-year. Is that a result of fewer promotions and changed incentives? And you said the goal is to accelerate customer growth rate. How do you expect that to go from -- in terms of gross adds and churn going forward?

克里斯，我接著說。你提到影片新增收入年減。這是由於促銷活動減少和激勵機制改變造成的嗎？你說過目標是加快客戶成長率。您預計未來新增用戶數和流失用戶數會如何變化？

And then quickly, a follow-up, if I can, on the in-sourcing program. You talked about it in your commentary. Where are we on the completion of that? And and how much in terms of costs are still being duplicated as you insource labor and everything else?

然後，如果可以的話，我想快速跟進內部資源整合計畫的情況。你曾在評論中談到這一點。這項工作目前進展到什麼程度了？那麼，在將勞動力和其他所有環節都納入公司內部營運的過程中，究竟有多少成本是重複產生的呢？

Sorry, so what was your second question? So first one is lower video gross add. Third one is status in-sourcing program and any double up. What was the second one?

不好意思，你的第二個問題是什麼？首先，影片廣告收入較低。第三點是內部採購計畫的狀態以及任何重複採購。第二個是什麼？

That was the gist of it.

事情大概的意思就是這樣。

Okay. I thought there was a second. But anyway, lower video gross adds up, I think it's more a function of the marketplace more than anything else. We still believe in video as an attractive piece to the connectivity package that we offer. It's an important attribute. We continue to invest in it, both in a traditional set-top box sense with -- as well as all of our IP platforms. And I don't know if Tom wants to add any more on that.

好的。我以為還有第二部。但無論如何，影片票房收入下降累積起來也是一筆不小的數目，我認為這更多是市場因素造成的，而不是其他原因。我們仍然認為影片是我們提供的連接服務包中一個極具吸引力的部分。這是一個重要的特質。我們將繼續投資於此，包括傳統的機上盒以及我們所有的 IP 平台。我不知道湯姆是否還想就此補充什麼。

Well, yes, the lower gross adds, I think, are a function of the marketplace. It's not material to what drives our economic model. But it is a nice small addition to our broadband connectivity business.

嗯，是的，我認為較低的毛利成長是市場因素造成的。這與驅動我們經濟模式的本質無關。但這對於我們的寬頻連線業務來說，是一個不錯的小小的補充。

And then on the in-sourcing program, the insourcing is essentially complete. We have well over 90% of our service calls are handled in-house and onshore. And then in the field service side, you need to have some contract labor available for peaks and valleys, but we're well over 75% of our labor being in-sourced there. And that's been the case for both of those for some time now. So there's very little in the way of double up cost anymore that's in the system. I do think that it's going to continue to get better for all the reasons that Tom mentioned, the tenure of our employees gets longer, which means they get more experienced and better and higher quality transactions with our own employees who have a career path at Charter. The amount of self installation is going up. The number of calls and truck rolls are going down. The churn is going down. And the amount of digital transactions, which Tom talked about, is also going up, which means less labor-intensive service infrastructure. And I think that's -- that trend is going to be with us for a prolonged period of time.

然後，內部採購計劃基本完成。我們超過 90% 的服務請求都是由公司內部和境內的團隊處理的。而在現場服務方面，雖然需要一些合約工來應對高峰和低谷，但我們超過 75% 的勞動力都是內部員工。這種情況已經持續了一段時間。因此，系統中已經很少存在重複成本了。我認為情況會繼續好轉，原因正如湯姆所提到的那樣，我們員工的任期越來越長，這意味著他們經驗更加豐富，與我們自己在Charter公司擁有職業發展道路的員工進行更高品質、更優質的交易。自行安裝的數量正在增加。報警電話和出車次數都在下降。人員流動率正在下降。湯姆提到的數位交易量也在增加，這意味著對勞動密集型服務基礎設施的需求會減少。而且我認為這種趨勢將會持續很長一段時間。

Our next question comes from the line of Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼。

And Tom, you just mentioned how video still can be very complementary to your core broadband product. There are a number of new direct-to-consumer video products coming soon, whether it's HBO Max or Peacock. And those providers have all said they're looking for distribution, including through MVPDs. I was hoping you could give us your updated thoughts around being a partner for some or all of them? And maybe some of the factors that you have to think through as you decide whether it makes sense, whether it's the economics, if there's technical issues or just some strategic considerations that are weighing on whether or not you intended to do this.

湯姆，你剛才提到影片仍然可以很好地補充你的核心寬頻產品。即將推出許多新的直接面向消費者的視訊產品，例如 HBO Max 和 Peacock。這些供應商都表示，他們正在尋找分銷管道，包括透過多頻道視訊節目分銷商 (MVPD)。我希望您能分享一下您對成為其中一些或全部合作夥伴的最新想法？或許你需要考慮一些因素，才能決定這樣做是否合理，例如經濟因素、技術問題，或是一些策略考量，這些都會影響你是否打算這麼做。

Right. Well, Brett, yes, there is an opportunity in us marketing direct-to-consumer products in our relationship with programmers. And those relationships, in many cases, are also operating under the old model, too, which is the bundled cable model. And we can hold both thoughts in our head at the same time and sell bundled products, which I think will be selling for years to come, but also selling direct-to-consumer products. And because of our customer relationship, because of the way we can package those products into our overall product mix and the user interfaces that we develop, which products like Flex are designed to help enhance, we have an opportunity to create and help programmers sell their content and do that in a way that's mutually beneficial to both of us. And so we're working through those models with the various companies. We have already placed direct-to-consumer products like Netflix on our user interface and customers can purchase products directly from our user interface, a la carte product, so to speak, which we've been doing for a long time, by the way. In many ways, I look at these products like I look at pay TV. They are opportunities to enhance the video experience and part of the customer relationship. So we have ongoing discussions with all of the entities out there. And fundamentally, I think while there's a lot of dislocation going on in the video business, there's an opportunity in there for us.

正確的。嗯，布雷特，是的，我們與程式設計師的關係中存在著直接面向消費者銷售產品的機會。而且在許多情況下，這些合作關係也仍然沿用舊模式，也就是捆綁式有線電視模式。我們可以同時考慮這兩種想法，銷售捆綁產品（我認為這種產品在未來幾年都會暢銷），同時也會銷售直接面向消費者的產品。由於我們與客戶的關係，由於我們可以將這些產品打包到我們的整體產品組合中，以及我們開發的用戶介面（像 Flex 這樣的產品旨在幫助增強這些用戶介面），我們有機會創造並幫助程式設計師銷售他們的內容，並以一種對我們雙方都有利的方式做到這一點。因此，我們正在與各家公司一起研究這些模型。我們已經將 Netflix 等直接面向消費者的產品放在了我們的用戶界面上，客戶可以直接從我們的用戶界面購買產品，可以說是按需購買的產品，順便說一句，我們已經這樣做了很長時間了。在很多方面，我看待這些產品就像看待付費電視一樣。它們是提升視訊體驗和客戶關係的機會。因此，我們一直在與所有相關機構進行討論。從根本上講，我認為雖然視訊產業目前存在著許多混亂，但這其中也蘊藏著我們的機會。

Our next question comes from the line of Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ben Swinburne。

Two questions for either of you or both of you. Tom, any change in how you're thinking about pricing the video business in particular? I don't know if you would characterize your rate adjustments in the fourth quarter as a change from prior philosophy or not. But at least it seemed to us like a more aggressive increase in your video pricing than you've done in the past. I'm just wondering if that reflects a change in your mind about how you manage the business?

我有兩個問題想問你們其中一人或兩人。湯姆，你對影片業務的定價策略有什麼想法上的改變嗎？我不知道您是否會將第四季度的利率調整描述為與以往理念的改變。但至少在我們看來，這次你們的影片價格上漲幅度比以往更大。我只是想知道這是否反映出您在企業管理方式上的想法改變了？

And then Chris mentioned in his prepared remarks sort of mid-band spectrum and any acquisition buildout there. I was just curious where your guys collective head was at on that opportunity, if that's something that's becoming more likely, less likely or just how we should be thinking about that as we go through this year and think about some options coming down the road.

然後克里斯在他的準備好的發言稿中提到了中頻段頻譜以及任何在該頻段的收購和建設。我只是好奇你們對這個機會的看法，是越來越有可能，還是越來越不可能，或者我們應該如何看待今年接下來的發展以及未來的一些選擇。

Ben, I think fundamentally, we didn't -- or haven't changed anything with regard to our pricing strategy, which is price isn't the major component of how we drive our revenue growth -- its subscriber growth. And we have accelerating subscriber growth, and we expect to continue to have accelerating subscriber growth because we have the price strategy we do with the product strategy we do. And the bulk of our revenue growth comes from that. So we have been passing through things like retransmission consent fees and other things in the video business. And looking at the margins in the video business and the competitive environment in the video business and how we're priced, but our fundamental strategy is not different.

Ben，我認為從根本上講，我們在定價策略方面沒有改變任何東西，價格並不是我們推動收入成長的主要因素，而是用戶成長。我們的用戶成長速度正在加快，我們預期用戶成長速度還會繼續加快，因為我​​們採取了現行的價格策略和產品策略。我們的大部分收入成長都來自於此。因此，我們一直在處理諸如視訊業務中的轉播許可費和其他費用。考慮到視訊產業的利潤率、視訊產業的競爭環境以及我們的定價方式，我們的基本策略並沒有改變。

Got it. Any on wireless?

知道了。有人用無線連線嗎？

Mid-band spectrum?

中頻段頻譜？

We're interested in mid-band spectrum. There's an auction coming up for CBRS. We're likely to participate in that auction. I think there's an opportunity for us. The FCC has been helpful and positioning that spectrum in a way that's an opportunity for us and so we're carefully considering our options there.

我們對中頻段頻譜有興趣。CBRS即將進行拍賣。我們很可能會參加那次拍賣。我認為我們有機會。FCC 一直很樂於助人，他們以一種對我們有利的方式定位了該頻譜，因此我們正在認真考慮我們的選擇。

But we'll be, Ben, disciplined, as you'd expect, about an ROI approach to the spectrum that's acquired, the cost to acquire it, the cost to build it and what's the financial return for doing so and where would you do it. So I think people should expect that we will be disciplined around there first, but we think it's pretty attractive. And clearly, the more mobile lines that we have, the more attractive that ROI is.

但是，本，正如你所預料的那樣，我們會以投資回報率為導向，認真考慮所獲取頻譜的投資回報率，包括獲取頻譜的成本、建設頻譜的成本以及這樣做的財務回報，以及在哪裡進行投資回報率。所以我覺得大家應該預料到，我們首先會在那裡保持紀律，但我們認為那裡很有吸引力。顯然，我們的行動線路越多，投資報酬率就越高。

Our next question comes from the line of Craig Moffett with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig Moffett 和 MoffettNathanson 的連線。

Two questions, if I could. First, on the wireless business, if I could just continue down that line of thinking. How much -- just given what you know today, how much traffic do you think you will eventually be able to offload or -- was sort of thinking about it as a percentage of total, maybe, that you'd be able to offload under your own facilities? If you think about where it might make sense to build where you have aerial infrastructure to be able to build? And is there any scenario where you would ever want to go to a full facilities-based strategy where you would own your entire network?

如果可以的話，我想問兩個問題。首先，關於無線通訊業務，如果我能繼續沿著這個思路思考下去的話。根據你目前掌握的信息，你認為最終你能卸載多少貨物？或者，我當時在想，這大概佔你自有設施能夠卸載的總貨物量的百分比？想想看，在有空中基礎設施的地方建造房屋是不是更合理？是否存在這樣一種情況：您希望採用完全基於設施的策略，即擁有自己的整個網路？

And then just back to the video question for a second. How do you think differently about programming renewals, just given the change in tone around your video strategy?

然後，我們再回到影片中的問題。鑑於視訊策略的整體基調發生了變化，您對節目續訂的看法有何不同？

Right. So look, on the wireless situation, it's really a math question of what's it cost to pay for your MVNO rate? And what's it cost to build, where is the traffic and what's -- and how does all that work? And that's the discipline that Chris was talking about. So as we think about it, there's -- it depends on what you're paying for mobile traffic and what the economic traffic zone is inside of a particular area and how you would switch that traffic. So I don't -- there's no immediate plan to change our fundamental relationship with our carriers. And -- but over time, as as the market evolves, as speeds go up and capacity goes up, the economics may change. And we'll take advantage of those through time as the marketplace unfolds.

正確的。所以你看，就無線網路而言，這實際上是一個數學問題，即支付 MVNO 費率需要多少成本？建設成本是多少？交通流量在哪裡？ ——這一切是如何運作的？這就是克里斯所說的紀律。所以仔細想想，這取決於你為行動流量支付的費用，以及特定區域內的經濟流量區域，以及你將如何轉移這些流量。所以，目前沒有改變我們與營運商之間根本關係的計畫。但是－隨著時間的推移，隨著市場的發展，隨著速度的提高和產能的提升，經濟效益可能會改變。隨著市場的發展，我們將逐步利用這些優勢。

With regard to programming, obviously, the biggest issue in the bundled package is price and a lot of people have been priced out of the market and we continue to negotiate contracts. And as penetrations in the overall distribution change, the relative value of the content changes and it changes the relationship and changes how much programming is worth to you as an operator. And so that's it -- I don't expect the general circumstance of distribution to precipitously change over the next couple of years. I think we'll still have a big bundled product. But the relative pieces of that are changing in value and we'll act appropriately in the marketplace.

就編程方面而言，顯然，捆綁套餐中最大的問題是價格，許多人因為價格過高而無法購買，我們仍在繼續協商合約。隨著整體分銷滲透率的變化，內容的相對價值也會發生變化，這會改變節目對你作為運營商的價值，進而改變節目對你的價值。所以就是這樣——我預計未來幾年內，分配的整體情況不會發生劇烈變化。我認為我們仍然會推出一款大型捆綁產品。但其中各個組成部分的價值都在變化，我們將根據市場情況採取相應的行動。

Craig, you had a sub question on the wireless side that asked if there's any scenario where we'd want to own it all, the MVNO network, and so far, we haven't seen anything that really demonstrates that need. We have a very good partner with Verizon. It's going very well and they have a very strong macro cell tower network. And so I don't think that there's any economic case that we're seeing today that says that we need to own all of it and I hope we'll be partners with MVNO partners for years to come.

Craig，你之前在無線方面提過一個子問題，問我們是否有可能想要完全擁有 MVNO 網絡，但到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何真正證明這種需求的跡象。我們與Verizon的合作非常愉快。一切進展順利，他們的宏基地台網路非常強大。因此，我認為目前沒有任何經濟理由表明我們需要擁有所有這些資產，我希望在未來幾年裡，我們能夠與虛擬營運商合作夥伴保持合作關係。

Our next question comes from the line of Jonathan Chaplin with New Street.

我們的下一個問題來自喬納森·卓別林與新街的連結。

Just a follow-up on the the questions around cost of service. I just want to get a quick clarification. You said we shouldn't impute the same improvement in cost of service that we saw year-over-year this year or we shouldn't assume the same cost of service that there's something that would drive cost of service up from here or something one-time [in a full] quarter that depressed it. And then related to that, I'm wondering if you can give us an update on where the Legacy Time Warner churn is relative to Legacy Charter churn and whether Legacy Charter churn has only bottomed out? Or are there still opportunities for that to come down? Because it seems like the churn improvement drove a big component of the improvement in cost of service.

關於服務費用方面的問題，我再補充一點。我只是想快速確認一下。你說過我們不應該把今年看到的同比服務成本改善情況照搬到其他年份，或者我們不應該假設服務成本保持不變，因為有些因素會推高服務成本，或者某個季度內發生了一些一次性事件導致服務成本下降。另外，我想請您更新一下傳統時代華納的用戶流失率相對於傳統Charter用戶流失率的情況，以及傳統Charter用戶流失率是否已經觸底反彈？或者說，這種情況還有機會改變嗎？因為客戶流失率的降低似乎是服務成本降低的主要原因。

So you were a little garbled there, Jonathan. But on the cost to serve, the cost to serve trend is -- it continues to go down on a per customer basis. There are all sorts of reasons that's true. I think Chris was trying to say that what the pace of that is and how that will manifest itself quarterly isn't something that you should straight line extrapolate. But the fundamental arc that we're on in terms of customers self-serving, using high-quality service operations with well-skilled people doing the work is reducing overall transaction volume as is the digitization and the definition of the network as a software-defined network and many of the operations becoming software-defined. All of those things are taking fundamental operating cost out of the business and the capital expenditures that we made over the last 3 years as a result of the integration puts us in a position to realize that upside. So that's the fundamental notion that he was trying to express.

喬納森，你剛才說話有點含糊不清。但就服務成本而言，服務成本的趨勢是──以每位顧客計算，服務成本持續下降。這有很多原因可以解釋這種情況。我認為克里斯想表達的是，這種成長的速度以及它在每個季度將如何體現，都不是你應該直接推斷出來的。但就客戶自助服務而言，我們正在經歷的根本趨勢是，透過高品質的服務營運和熟練人員的工作，以及數位化和將網路定義為軟體定義網絡，許多營運都變成了軟體定義，這正在降低整體交易量。所有這些措施都降低了企業的根本營運成本，而過去 3 年我們因整合而進行的資本支出，使我們能夠實現這一成長潛力。這就是他試圖表達的基本概念。

And Legacy TWC churn continues to be both elevated relative to Legacy Charter, but continues to be declining at a faster rate than Legacy Charter continues to decline.

雖然傳統 TWC 的用戶流失率仍高於傳統 Charter 的用戶流失率，但其下降速度仍比傳統 Charter 的用戶流失率下降速度更快。

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Jonathan, you've got really bad cell signal. And so at this time around, we couldn't hear anything on that question.

喬納森，你的手機訊號很差。所以當時，我們沒能聽到任何關於這個問題的消息。

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Okay.

好的。

Our next question comes from the line of Jessica Reif Ehrlich from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的傑西卡·雷夫·埃利希。

I have 2 follow-ups. I think it was Tom who said that you will accelerate or you expect to accelerate customer growth rate this year. And I just wonder if you could elaborate on that. Do you mean the high-speed data only? Or are you including video in here?

我還有 2 個後續問題。我記得是湯姆說過，你們今年將會加快或預計會加快客戶成長率。我想請您詳細解釋一下。您指的是高速資料傳輸嗎？或者，這裡也包括影片嗎？

And then you also -- Tom mentioned Flex and I don't know if it was just in the context of direct-to-consumer services, but do you have plans to offer a service similar to Comcast's Flex? Or can you talk about how you're thinking about the evolution of your broadband product that would differentiate -- that would make it more different? Besides speed, what else will differentiate it?

另外，湯姆提到了 Flex，我不知道這是否只是在直接面向消費者的服務背景下，但你們是否有計劃提供類似 Comcast 的 Flex 的服務？或者您能否談談您如何考慮寬頻產品的演進，使其更具差異化和獨特性？除了速度之外，它還有哪些獨特之處？

Right. Well, when I spoke of accelerating growth, I was talking about high-speed data and customer relationship growth accelerating. So that's what I meant by that. And in terms of Flex or similar products, yes, the answer is yes. There are a variety of IP relationships we have. We have one with Apple, selling IP devices through Apple. We have Roku devices that our product is on. We've got millions of customers who subscribe to us directly through an app-based product. And so our video product on the Internet or IP-delivered cable TV and IP-delivered over-the-top products are all being delivered through a variety of new technology platforms. Flex is one of those. And so the answer is we're pursuing all the various opportunities in video that are available to us and including those in our broadband strategy.

正確的。嗯，當我談到加速成長時，我指的是高速數據和客戶關係成長的加速。這就是我的意思。至於 Flex 或類似產品，答案是肯定的。我們擁有多種智慧財產權合作關係。我們與蘋果公司有合作，透過蘋果公司銷售IP設備。我們的產品已安裝在 Roku 裝置上。我們擁有數百萬直接透過應用程式訂閱我們的客戶。因此，我們在網路上提供的視訊產品，或透過 IP 傳輸的有線電視和透過 IP 傳輸的 OTT 產品，都是透過各種新技術平台提供的。Flex 就是其中之一。因此，答案是，我們正在尋求視訊領域所有可用的各種機會，並將其納入我們的寬頻策略中。

In addition to our broad -- we've enhanced our broadband through speed differentiation and taking our minimum speeds up. More than half of our customer base now gets minimum speeds of 200 megabits as the slowest speed we sell. And we've enhanced that with our advanced WiFi products, which deliver high-quality service throughout the house, allow you to manage all the devices in your house, see what the service quality of those devices is and how they're connected to the network as well as allow you to manage the privacy or the utilization of any of those devices throughout your house so that you're secure, private and delivering and getting a high-quality service everywhere inside your property and on the go. And so we continue to invest in the broadband platform to make it a better platform, and we continue to invest in legacy video. And we continue to invest in the way legacy video transforms itself into an IP platform.

除了我們現有的寬頻服務之外，我們還透過速度差異化和提高最低速度來增強我們的寬頻服務。現在，我們超過一半的客戶只能享受到 200 兆位元的最低網路速度，這是我們提供的最低網路速度。我們透過先進的 WiFi 產品增強了這一點，這些產品可在整個房屋內提供高品質的服務，讓您可以管理家中的所有設備，查看這些設備的服務品質以及它們如何連接到網絡，還可以管理家中任何設備的隱私或使用情況，從而確保您的安全、隱私，並在您的住宅內和外出時都能獲得高品質的服務。因此，我們將繼續投資寬頻平台，使其成為更好的平台，並繼續投資傳統影片。我們將繼續投資於傳統視訊向 IP 平台轉型的方式。

Our next question comes from the line of Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Vijay Jayant 與 Evercore 的對話。

It's James [Acker] for Vijay. Two if I could. First of all, Tom, you mentioned 10G is sort of the next phase and with the 3.1 rollout done. Can you give us any idea of the timing or magnitude of that sort of deployment? I mean, I assume it's differing in kind, not just degree to the $9 or a home pass or so that 3.1 was?

是詹姆斯·阿克爾（James Acker）飾演維傑（Vijay）。如果可以的話，我會選兩個。首先，湯姆，你提到 10G 是下一個階段，而 3.1 的推出已經完成。您能否大致透露一下此類部署的時間或規模？我的意思是，我猜想它本質上有所不同，而不僅僅是程度不同，例如 3.1 版本中的 9 美元或一張主場通行證之類的？

And secondly, in the slides, you mentioned that the strategy in the business is not dependent on M&A. Can you talk about what you see the M&A landscape looking like, both any opportunities for horizontal? Or if there are any incremental vertical acquisitions that would make sense?

其次，你在投影片中提到，公司的策略並不依賴併購。您能否談談您如何看待目前的併購格局，包括橫向併購的機會？或者，是否有任何合理的縱向增量收購方案？

Sure. Well, with regard to 10G, we just upgraded the whole network to 1 gigabit everywhere. That was the $450 million capital project that I mentioned over a 13-month time frame. 10G is a set of technology specifications that the industry has developed that allows us to ultimately get to 10-gig symmetrical services, which are provided at very low latency deliveries specifications and allows you to put high-compute capabilities throughout your network. And there is no immediate need to deploy a new upgrade in the marketplace today, but it's an evolution that we can invest in as we go forward. And it allows us to do that incrementally in a very cost-efficient way. A lot less cost than it would cost to build a brand-new network. And so we have no immediate capital deployment associated with it. But it's a variety of tools to incrementally get you to at least a 10-gig symmetrical. And there's -- we have already surpassed that capability in our laboratory testing. And so that's just a stake in the ground in terms of what the potential of our existing infrastructure is.

當然。關於 10G，我們已經將整個網路升級到 1 千兆網路。這就是我之前提到的那個耗資 4.5 億美元、為期 13 個月的資本項目。10G 是業界開發的一套技術規範，它最終使我們能夠實現 10G 對稱服務，這些服務以非常低的延遲交付規範提供，並允許您在整個網路中部署高運算能力。目前市場上還沒有立即推出新升級的必要，但這是我們未來可以投資的發展方向。而且它使我們能夠以非常經濟高效的方式逐步實現這一點。比新建一個網路的成本要低得多。因此，我們目前沒有與之相關的直接資金投入。但它提供了多種工具，可以逐步幫助你達到至少 10G 的對稱儲存容量。而且──我們在實驗室測試中已經超越了這種能力。所以，這只是我們現有基礎設施潛力的初步體現。

With regard to M&A, first of all, we don't have anything that we're about to talk about. But the cable business is owned by control shareholders mostly through the United States. And I think we have a great business and lots of opportunity. And with the right combination of assets, there's always value and scale and market approach. And -- but there's nothing for us to say at the moment.

關於併購，首先，我們沒有什麼要說的。但有線電視業務主要由美國的控股股東擁有。我認為我們擁有一個很棒的企業和很多機會。只要資產組合得當，總是能實現價值、規模和市場策略。但是——但目前我們沒有什麼好說的。

Our next question comes from the line of Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的布萊恩‧克拉夫特。

I wanted to ask a couple of questions on CapEx. Can you talk about some of the puts and takes and scalable infrastructure capital. It was down quite a bit in 2019 from the prior couple of years. Just wondering how we should think about that spending category in the coming years relative to history? Is there a sort of normal level, if you will?

我想問幾個關於資本支出的問題。您能談談一些買賣交易和可擴展的基礎設施資本嗎？2019 年的降幅比前兩年大了不少。我想知道，相對於歷史數據，我們該如何看待未來幾年這個支出類別？是否存在某種正常水平？

And then secondly, on CapEx, as you've reached the end of the FCC commitment for new homes passed, what should we expect in terms of a normal homes passed growth rate? Will it kind of be the -- just the rate of home growth in your footprint, the way it's been maybe historically over the years? Or do you see opportunities now to extend the network to existing premises that are currently off net?

其次，關於資本支出，由於 FCC 承諾的新房建設已經完成，我們應該對正常的房屋建設增長率抱有怎樣的預期？這會不會有點像——只是你所在區域的房屋增長速度，就像這些年來歷史上一直發生的那樣？或者，您是否看到現在有機會將網路擴展到目前未接入網路的現有場所？

So with regard to scalable CapEx, Bryan. The -- we are getting advantages from the 3.1 deployment. And I think that those advantages which are in -- what the advantages is that the growth in Internet utilization on a per customer basis is a continuous investment required by us. And the 3.1 so expanded the capacity of the plant that some of that scalable infrastructure capital that might have been in prior periods isn't required right now. But that opportunity continues for a while yet because one, it's a function of the rate of data usage per unit per customer. And interestingly, our Internet-only customers now are using over 500 gigabytes per month, 0.5 terabyte of data usage. So it is something that continues to climb. And that's relative to a wireless average customer of 8, to put that in proportion. The -- but the capital expenditure, I think will stay in that space, similar to what it is now for some period of time, clearly, 2020, because of the capacity that's been built by 3.1. And the evolution of traditional video toward DOCSIS (inaudible) any of that opportunity.

所以，關於可擴展的資本支出，布萊恩。我們從 3.1 版本的部署中獲得了優勢。我認為這些優勢在於——這些優勢指的是，網路使用者數量的成長是我們持續需要進行的投資。3.1 號提案擴大了工廠的產能，因此之前可能需要的一些可擴展的基礎設施資本現在不再需要了。但這種機會還會持續一段時間，因為首先，它取決於每個客戶每個單位的數據使用率。有趣的是，我們僅使用網路服務的客戶現在每月使用超過 500 GB 的數據，即 0.5 TB 的數據使用量。所以它還在持續攀升。而無線用戶的平均用戶數為 8，這樣就能更理解這個比例了。但我認為，資本支出將在一段時間內保持在這個水平，與現在的情況類似，顯然到 2020 年，因為 3.1 已經建成了產能。傳統影片向 DOCSIS 的演變（聽不清楚）給了我們任何這樣的機會。

Homes passed.

房屋已通過。

Homes passed. Look, we build everything that we can build from a homes passed perspective, without regard to the requirements of our consent decree. So we've accelerated and actually built more passings than the consent decree required. And there's nothing going forward that would change the rate at which we're building other than the rate of household formation.

房屋已通過。你看，我們從房屋建造的角度出發，建造我們所能建造的一切，而不考慮我們的同意法令的要求。因此，我們加快了建造速度，實際建造的通道數量超過了同意法令要求的數量。除了家庭組成速度之外，未來沒有其他因素會改變我們的建築速度。

Bryan, just on the CapEx. Tom mentioned we're temporarily depressed in 2019 and probably in 2020 for the continued DOCSIS 3.1 benefits. But if you think about the different line items for CapEx - our CPE, which includes traditional install, which is now growing higher self-install. Our CPE is declining and already, the majority of that mix of CPE is more tied to Internet-related products as opposed to video products. As Tom mentioned, we've been building at an accelerated pace on the line extension. So I think that will continue to be elevated with positive ROI attached to that build-out. The scalable, while lower last year and probably this year as well, over time, that's an area that we'll continue to invest like we have in the past.

布萊恩，僅就資本支出而言。Tom 提到，由於 DOCSIS 3.1 的持續影響，我們在 2019 年和 2020 年可能會暫時感到沮喪。但如果你考慮一下資本支出的不同項目——我們的 CPE，包括傳統安裝，現在越來越多的是自助安裝。我們的客戶終端設備 (CPE) 正在減少，目前大部分 CPE 都與互聯網相關產品而非視訊產品聯繫在一起。正如湯姆所提到的，我們一直在加快產品線延伸的建設步伐。所以我認為，隨著該建設項目帶來積極的投資回報率，這一趨勢將會持續下去。雖然去年和今年的可擴展性有所下降，但隨著時間的推移，我們將像過去一樣繼續在這個領域進行投資。

And then in support, we continue to have not the same magnitude that we've had in the past few years. But there's still a fair amount of integration, back-end integration capital that's going on and you'll see that in the support category, whether that's through real estate or through IT systems. And so whereas scalable, may be temporarily lower, I think support is temporarily still higher. And that's the way the different pieces of CapEx will move over the short to medium term.

此外，我們在支援方面，仍然沒有達到過去幾年那樣的規模。但目前仍有相當多的整合、後端整合資金正在進行中，你會在支援類別中看到這一點，無論是透過房地產還是透過 IT 系統。因此，雖然可擴展性可能暫時降低，但我認為支持率暫時仍然較高。這就是資本支出各項組成部分在中短期內的流動情況。

Okay. Great. And on balance, continued declines in capital intensity as you look beyond 2020, for the most part?

好的。偉大的。整體而言，展望2020年以後，資本密集度是否會持續下降？

Correct. We don't see anything that changes the arc that we're on. And mobile will have its own trajectory, which I talked about in the prepared remarks, which we expect it to step down significantly in 2021. But for any ROI-based investment in spectrum and/or build out.

正確的。我們看不到任何會改變我們目前發展軌跡的事情。行動端的發展軌跡將有所不同，我在準備好的發言稿中也談到了這一點，我們預計行動端在 2021 年將大幅下降。但對於任何基於投資回報率的頻譜和/或建設投資。

And our last question comes from the line of Doug Mitchelson with Crédit Suisse.

最後一個問題來自瑞士信貸的道格·米切爾森。

I wanted to dig in more specifics on a couple of topics. Tom, I think to ask the question directly that I think folks were trying to get to. Will you need to subsidize OTT video services to compete in broadband in the future against the likes of AT&T, that's going to include an HBO Max for certain customers? So one, the competitive outlook going forward on broadband.

我想就幾個主題進行更深入的探討。湯姆，我覺得應該直接問出大家真正想問的問題。未來，為了與AT&T等寬頻巨頭競爭，您是否需要補貼OTT視訊服務？這些服務可能包括面向部分用戶的HBO Max。所以，第一，寬頻未來的競爭前景如何？

Two, on spectrum, it's super interesting the conversations you've been having with us around wireless and the lack of a need for a physical network. I guess my question is, how much spectrum do you need? Because if you're just going after high capacity areas, I think you could do that with a small amount of CBRS or C-band spectrum, 10 or 20 megahertz. But if you're going to build out 10 or 20 megahertz, you might as well build out more because the cost to build is sort of the same regardless of how many megahertz. So I'm just curious how you think about quantity of spectrum relative to that return on invested capital dynamic.

第二，關於頻譜，你們和我們討論的關於無線技術以及無需實體網路的問題非常有趣。我想問的是，你需要多少個光譜？因為如果你只是想佔領高容量區域，我認為你可以用少量的 CBRS 或 C 波段頻譜，例如 10 或 20 兆赫茲，來實現這一點。但是，如果你打算建造 10 或 20 兆赫茲的設施，你不如多建一些，因為無論建設多少兆赫茲，建設成本都差不多。所以我很好奇您如何看待頻譜數量與投資報酬率之間的關係。

Well, on the subsidization of OTT, that's really just price - what you're selling broadband for. And I think that we have a relatively good competitive posture, from a price perspective, in the marketplace. And so I don't see us changing that. Whether we'll do promotional offers that have a price effect in them, the cost in them, I won't say never, but it's just a marketing technique. It doesn't mean you have to change your fundamental pricing strategy.

關於OTT補貼，其實就是價格問題──寬頻的售價。我認為，從價格角度來看，我們在市場上有相對較好的競爭優勢。所以我認為我們不會改變這一點。至於我們是否會推出包含價格影響或成本因素的促銷活動，我不會說絕對不會，但這只是一種行銷技巧。但這並不意味著你必須改變你的基本定價策略。

And with regard to to wireless, you're into the math of what's the value of the physical network pieces, and that's a function of a lot of things. It's not -- it is the cost to build. It's the cost of what your rented network is and how those 2 things interact with each other. And so I'd say, your thinking is correct. But we haven't decided exactly what we'll do.

至於無線網絡，你需要計算實體網路組件的價值，而這取決於許多因素。不是的——這是建設成本。這是你租用的網路的成本，以及這兩者之間的互動。所以我覺得，你的想法是對的。但我們還沒決定具體要怎麼做。

The -- I could just follow-up on that, Tom. Do you need updated MVNO with Verizon or a new MVNO to take advantage of maximized, taking advantage of building out mid-band spectrum in high traffic areas? Does there need to be any evolution in that relationship for you to be able to switch to your spectrum?

——我可以接著說下去，湯姆。您是否需要 Verizon 的升級版 MVNO，或者需要新的 MVNO 來充分利用高流量地區正在建造的中頻段頻譜？你認為這段關係需要某種改變才能讓你切換到你的光譜嗎？

We have a good relationship, and we're happy with our MVNO relationship with Verizon. And I'm sure it will evolve through time.

我們與Verizon保持著良好的合作關係，我們對與Verizon的MVNO合作關係感到滿意。我相信它會隨著時間的推移而演變。

Thanks Doug, and thanks to everyone who listened to our call today. That concludes our call.

謝謝道格，也謝謝今天所有收聽我們電話會議的朋友們。通話到此結束。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

And this does conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。