Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to Charter Communications first-quarter 2025 investor call. (Operator Instructions) Also as a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Stefan Anninger.

您好，歡迎參加 Charter Communications 2025 年第一季投資者電話會議。（操作員指示）另外提醒一下，今天正在錄製本次會議。如果您有任何異議，請立即斷開連接。現在我將電話轉給 Stefan Anninger。

Thanks, operator, and welcome, everyone. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, ir.charter.com, I would like to remind you that there are a number of risk factors and other cautionary statements contained in our SEC filings, and 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, which are subject to the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from historical or anticipated results.

謝謝接線員，歡迎大家。本次電話會議的簡報可以在我們的網站 ir.charter.com 上找到，我想提醒您，我們的 SEC 文件中包含許多風險因素和其他警告聲明，我們鼓勵您仔細閱讀。我們在本次電話會議中就期望、預測、計畫和前景所作的各種評論均構成前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與歷史或預期結果不同。

Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current view only, and Charter undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements. As a reminder, 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 不承擔修改或更新此類陳述的義務。提醒一下，除非另有說明，本次電話會議和簡報中提到的所有成長率都是以同比計算的。

On today's call, we have Chris Winfrey, our President and CEO; and Jessica Fischer, our CFO. With that, let's turn the call over to Chris.

今天的電話會議由我們的總裁兼執行長克里斯溫弗瑞主持；以及我們的財務長傑西卡菲舍爾 (Jessica Fischer)。說完這些，我們就把電話交給克里斯。

Thanks, Stefan. We performed well during the first quarter, adding over 500,000 Spectrum Mobile lines and over 2.1 million lines over the last year for line growth of over 25%. We continue to be the fastest-growing mobile provider in the US with the fastest connectivity at the best price. Our Internet customer results improved year over year as we continue to compete well and with the affordable connectivity program headwind now behind us.

謝謝，史蒂芬。我們在第一季表現良好，增加了超過 50 萬條 Spectrum Mobile 線路，比去年同期增加了超過 210 萬條線路，線路成長率超過 25%。我們繼續成為美國成長最快的行動服務供應商，以最優惠的價格提供最快的連線。由於我們繼續保持良好的競爭力，並且已經擺脫了經濟實惠的連接計劃的不利因素，我們的互聯網客戶業績逐年改善。

Revenue was relatively flat year over year, while EBITDA growth accelerated to 4.8% driven by a strong contribution from mobile growth and continued improving service quality through employee and technology investments, which also reduced service transactions and costs. The operating environment remains competitive, but the impact of the elimination of the ACP is behind us. On the fiber front, we continue to do well. And while our fiber overlap is expanding, it's growing at about the same pace we've seen for the past couple of years. We also believe these new fiber builds are destined for poor financial returns.

營收與去年同期相比基本持平，而 EBITDA 成長率加速至 4.8%，這得益於行動業務成長的強勁貢獻，並透過員工和技術投資持續提高服務質量，同時也減少了服務交易和成本。經營環境依然競爭激烈，但 ACP 取消的影響已經過去。在光纖方面，我們繼續表現良好。雖然我們的光纖重疊正在擴大，但其成長速度與過去幾年大致相同。我們也認為，這些新光纖建設注定會帶來糟糕的財務回報。

Cell phone Internet growth appears to have plateaued and broadband data usage continues to grow. In the first quarter, monthly data usage by our non-video Internet customers grew to approximately 825 gigabytes per month. And over 30% of those customers now use over 1 terrabyte of data per month with handset data usage growing at an even faster rate. Our fully converged network is the most efficient way to satisfy that growing demand for data. Unlike cellphone networks, which need to regular and execute massive network upgrades via densification, which gets reported as CapEx or if they choose not to densify tens of billions of dollars in Spectrum acquisitions that aren't included in investor or analyst models.

手機網路成長似乎已進入穩定期，而寬頻數據使用量則持續成長。第一季度，我們的非視訊網路客戶的每月資料使用量成長至約每月 825 千兆位元組。目前，超過 30% 的客戶每月使用的數據超過 1TB，而且手機數據使用量的成長速度更快。我們的完全融合網路是滿足日益增長的數據需求的最有效方式。與手機網路不同，手機網路需要透過密集化定期執行大規模網路升級，這被報告為資本支出，或者如果他們選擇不密集化數百億美元的頻譜收購，則這些收購未包含在投資者或分析師模型中。

Unlicensed Spectrum via WiFi continues to be the wireless workforce for the American consumer and for the mobile telcos. Spectrum Mobile devices utilize our gigabit-enabled fully managed network for the vast majority of traffic. And they offload less than 13% of traffic to slower 5G macro cell towers. Our CBRS deployment is going very well. And by the end of this year, we will be launched across 23 markets using low power, shared licensed, and unlicensed Spectrum fully deployed across high-traffic areas with good ROIs. In the meantime, we continue to execute on our long-held strategy of delivering the best networks and products at the best value for residential and business customers, combined with unmatched service.

透過 WiFi 的未授權頻譜繼續成為美國消費者和行動電信公司的無線勞動力。Spectrum Mobile 設備利用我們支援千兆的完全託管網路來處理絕大多數流量。而且它們將不到 13% 的流量卸載到速度較慢的 5G 宏基地台上。我們的 CBRS 部署進展非常順利。今年底，我們將在 23 個市場推出低功耗、共享授權和非授權頻譜，並在高流量區域全面部署，並獲得良好的投資報酬率。同時，我們將繼續執行我們長期以來的策略，為住宅和商業客戶提供最優質、最有價值的網路和產品，以及無與倫比的服務。

So we have a unique set of assets and significant scale, as shown on slide 4. We offer the fastest Internet, the best Wi-Fi, the fastest mobile product, and Spectrum is the leading video provider in the US. The power of our network continues to improve with symmetrical and multi-gig speeds everywhere we operate. We are adding 2 x 1 gigabit per second service to recently upgraded markets this year, and the next phases of our network evolution will deliver 5 gig and 10 gigabit per second service.

因此，我們擁有一套獨特的資產和顯著的規模，如投影片 4 所示。我們提供最快的網路、最好的 Wi-Fi、最快的行動產品，Spectrum 是美國領先的視訊供應商。我們的網路能力不斷提升，我們營運的每個地方都具有對稱和多千兆的速度。我們今年將為最近升級的市場增加 2 x 1 千兆位元每秒的服務，而我們網路發展的下一階段將提供 5 千兆位元每秒和 10 千兆位元每秒的服務。

As a reminder, the high split in DOCSIS 4.0 upgrade effectively creates up to 1 gigahertz of Spectrum acquisition across our 950,000 mile footprint. That network spectrum expansion enables up to 10 gigabit per second of speed to each premise and can also power small cells for unlicensed and shared license Spectrum nearly everywhere.

提醒一下，DOCSIS 4.0 升級中的高分割有效地在我們 950,000 英里的覆蓋範圍內創建了高達 1 千兆赫的頻譜採集。網路頻譜擴展可使每個場所的速度達到每秒 10 千兆位，並且還可以為幾乎所有地方的非授權和共享授權頻譜的小型基地台供電。

Our footprint continues to grow with our expansion initiative, setting us up for future customer growth as portions of today's rural build become tomorrow's suburban footprint. And unlike our competitors, we provide the very best of our products across 100% of our footprint with full marketing and service capabilities as shown on slide 5.

隨著我們的擴張計劃，我們的足跡不斷擴大，為未來的客戶成長做好了準備，因為今天的鄉村建設的一部分將成為明天的郊區足跡。與我們的競爭對手不同的是，我們在 100% 的業務範圍內提供最好的產品，並具備完整的行銷和服務能力，如投影片 5 所示。

Having the best network and product capabilities by itself isn't enough, though, we have to offer the most value. And slide 6 of today's presentation shows just one example of the value we offer versus our competitors. We give customers easy ways to save hundreds and even thousands of dollars per year, whether in promotion or retail with the best products.

然而，僅僅擁有最好的網路和產品能力是不夠的，我們必須提供最大的價值。今天簡報的第 6 張投影片僅展示了我們相對於競爭對手所提供的價值的一個例子。我們為客戶提供簡單的方法，無論是在促銷或零售方面，都能以最好的產品節省每年數百甚至數千美元。

The last key component is service. We've always believed that investing in customer service and satisfaction creates a virtuous cycle in our business that leads to customer and financial growth and value creation. Our sales and service are 100% US-based using our own employees with good paying jobs and benefits. We're focused on ensuring that Charter is a great place to build a long rewarding career building tenure and driving better employee performance, all part of our execution initiative that we launched a few years ago.

最後一個關鍵組成部分是服務。我們始終相信，投資客戶服務和滿意度會在我們的業務中形成良性循環，從而帶來客戶和財務的成長以及價值創造。我們的銷售和服務 100% 在美國進行，使用我們自己的員工，提供優厚的薪資和福利。我們致力於確保 Charter 成為一個建立長期、有回報的職業生涯和提高員工績效的好地方，所有這些都是我們幾年前啟動的執行計劃的一部分。

Next week, we'll announce to employees our new employee stock purchase plan. The program gives eligible employees the option to purchase Charter stock with matching restricted stock units, which increases based on tenure. Our employees are US-based and committed to their careers and the local communities we all serve as customers themselves and now as owners.

下週，我們將向員工宣布新的員工股票購買計畫。該計劃為符合資格的員工提供購買 Charter 股票和相應限制性股票單位的選擇，限制性股票單位會根據員工任職期限而增加。我們的員工都在美國，致力於他們的事業和當地社區，我們以前都是客戶，現在都是業主。

We've also been investing in machine learning and AI for a number of years. These applications directly benefit customers in various self-help channels, of course, but most of our effort is on making frontline work easier and more efficient. Ultimately, our investments in employee compensation, tenure, facilities, and tools, including machine learning and AI, are all resulting in significant improved service.

多年來，我們也一直在機器學習和人工智慧領域進行投資。這些應用程式當然直接讓各種自助管道的客戶受益，但我們大部分的努力都是為了讓第一線工作變得更輕鬆、更有效率。最終，我們在員工薪酬、任期、設施和工具（包括機器學習和人工智慧）方面的投資都帶來了服務的顯著改善。

Cable billing and repair calls were down 15% year over year in the first quarter. The service truck rolls were down 6%. That's been the trend and it continues. And looking forward, AI remains a very large opportunity for us to create value for customers and shareholders.

第一季有線電視計費和維修電話數量較去年同期下降了 15%。服務卡車運輸量下降了 6%。這就是趨勢，並將繼續下去。展望未來，人工智慧仍然是我們為客戶和股東創造價值的巨大機會。

While we could sit back knowing our product quality and value proposition are better and our long-term investments are working, we're not standing still. In September of last year, we launched our Life Unlimited brand refresh, also our new customer commitment, which commits us to reliability and same-day service with customer credits when we do miss the mark. In our new pricing and packaging, which better utilizes our market-leading mobile and now video products to present lower promotional and persistent bundled pricing to grow customer ARPU despite lower product pricing. That pricing and packaging is driving a higher number of total products sold at connect, including video with the launch of seamless entertainment still to come. And our gig Internet attach rate is now close to double what it was a year ago.

雖然我們可以放心，因為我們的產品品質和價值主張已經更好了，而且我們的長期投資正在發揮作用，但我們不會停滯不前。去年 9 月，我們推出了 Life Unlimited 品牌更新，同時也推出了新的客戶承諾，承諾在客戶未達到目標時提供可靠性和當日服務並提供信用。在我們的新定價和包裝中，我們更好地利用了我們市場領先的行動和現在的視訊產品，以提供更低的促銷和持續捆綁定價，從而在產品定價較低的情況下提高客戶的 ARPU。這種定價和包裝推動了 Connect 上銷售的產品總數的增加，其中包括影片以及即將推出的無縫娛樂。我們的千兆網路接取率現在幾乎是一年前的兩倍。

As a reminder, our Internet and mobile products have no contracts, price locks when bundled, market-leading service commitments with 100% US-based service and sales and taxes and fees are included in our pricing. None of our connectivity competitors do that. Taken together, that's our strategy, offering the best products, including seamless connectivity and seamless entertainment, the most value with unmatched service driving higher-quality revenue per home passed and free cash flow growth and high return on investment.

提醒一下，我們的互聯網和移動產品沒有合同，捆綁時價格鎖定，市場領先的服務承諾，100％美國服務，銷售和稅費都包含在我們的定價中。我們的連接競爭對手都沒有這樣做。總而言之，這就是我們的策略，提供最好的產品，包括無縫連接和無縫娛樂，以無與倫比的服務提供最大的價值，從而推動每戶家庭更高品質的收入、自由現金流增長和高投資回報。

Before I turn things over to Jessica, I wanted to note that this week, we added two Liberty nominated members to our Board of Directors, Marty Patterson and David Wargo. I'd like to welcome them both to our Board. And at the same time, Greg Maffei and Jim Meyer, two Liberty Broadband designees rolled off this week as well. And I'd like to thank them for their many years of service and value creation for Charter and for our shareholders.

在我將事情交給傑西卡之前，我想指出，本週，我們董事會增加了兩名自由提名的成員，馬蒂·帕特森和大衛·沃戈。我歡迎他們兩位加入我們的董事會。同時，自由寬頻的兩位指定負責人格雷格·馬菲 (Greg Maffei) 和吉姆·邁耶 (Jim Meyer) 也於本週離職。我要感謝他們多年來為 Charter 和我們的股東提供的服務和創造的價值。

Now I'll pass it over to Jessica.

現在我將把它交給傑西卡。

Thanks, Chris. Please note that today's results include several Los Angeles wildfire effects. As Chris mentioned last quarter, we are committed to these communities and to actively rebuilding them. Our first quarter customer results include approximately 9,000 disconnects related to the fires. We provided credits to impacted customers and also incurred some incremental expenses.

謝謝，克里斯。請注意，今天的結果包括幾處洛杉磯野火的影響。正如克里斯上個季度提到的，我們致力於這些社區並積極重建它們。我們第一季的客戶結果包括與火災相關的約 9,000 次斷電。我們向受影響的客戶提供信貸，同時也產生了一些增量費用。

The first quarter adjusted EBITDA was not meaningfully impacted by either. We expect that as we rebuild our plant to approximately 16,000 homes passed in Los Angeles over the coming quarters. We will incur additional CapEx, though not at a level that would require us to change our outlook. Also, please note that this quarter, we made a number of expense reclassifications to reflect changes in how we manage our business in connection with the recent launch of our Spectrum business brand. The reclassifications do not result in any changes to operating expenses or adjusted EBITDA for any period.

第一季調整後的 EBITDA 並未受到任何顯著影響。我們預計，隨著我們工廠的重建，未來幾季內，洛杉磯的住宅將覆蓋約 16,000 戶。我們將承擔額外的資本支出，但其水準不會要求我們改變前景。另外，請注意，本季我們進行了一些費用重新分類，以反映我們最近推出 Spectrum 業務品牌時業務管理方式的變化。重新分類不會導致任何期間的營運費用或調整後的 EBITDA 發生任何變化。

We've reclassified prior periods so that appropriate year-over-year growth calculations can be accurately derived. And today's published trending schedule also shows our P&L using both the new and previous expense disclosure methodologies so that you can see the impact of the changes. Let's please turn to our customer results on slide 10.

我們對先前的時期進行了重新分類，以便能夠準確地得出適當的同比增長計算結果。今天發布的趨勢表還顯示了我們使用新的和以前的費用揭露方法的損益表，以便您可以看到變化的影響。請看第 10 張投影片上的客戶結果。

Including residential and SMB, we lost 60,000 Internet customers in the first quarter. In mobile, we added 514,000 lines. Video customers declined by 181,000 versus a loss of 405,000 in 1Q '24, with the improvement primarily driven by the rebundling we launched in September, along with our Life Unlimited brand refresh. Video performance doesn't yet reflect the benefits of incorporating seamless entertainment apps in our products. Wireline voice customers declined by 278,000.

包括住宅和中小企業在內，我們在第一季失去了 60,000 名網路客戶。在行動領域，我們增加了 514,000 條線路。視訊客戶減少了 181,000 人，而 2024 年第一季則減少了 405,000 人，這一改善主要得益於我們 9 月推出的重新捆綁服務以及 Life Unlimited 品牌的更新。視訊表現尚未體現出在我們的產品中融入無縫娛樂應用程式的好處。有線語音用戶減少了27.8萬。

We were generally pleased with our first quarter customer results. During the quarter, we saw improvements in customer gross additions across Internet, video, and mobile and lower churn in video and mobile with Internet churn stable year over year despite the lack of ACP and well below pre-COVID levels. We continue to compete well across our footprint.

我們對第一季的客戶業績整體感到滿意。在本季度，我們看到互聯網、視訊和行動領域的客戶總增量有所提高，視訊和行動領域的客戶流失率有所下降，儘管缺乏 ACP，但網路客戶流失率同比保持穩定，且遠低於 COVID 之前的水平。我們將繼續在業務範圍內保持良好的競爭力。

In rural, we ended the quarter with 902,000 subsidized rural passings. We grew those passings by 89,000 in the first quarter and by over 400,000 over the last 12 months. And we generated 39,000 customer net additions in our subsidized rural footprint in the quarter. We continue to expect rural passenger growth of approximately 450,000 in 2025, our biggest year so far, in addition to continued nonrural construction and fill-in activity.

在農村地區，本季末我們獲得了 902,000 份農村補貼。今年第一季度，死亡人數增加了 89,000 人，而過去 12 個月，死亡人數增加了 40 萬人。本季度，我們在補貼的農村地區淨增加了 39,000 名客戶。我們繼續預計，2025 年農村旅客數量將增加約 45 萬，這將是迄今為止增長最快的一年，此外非農村地區的建設和填補活動也將持續進行。

Moving to first quarter revenue on slide 11. Over the last year, residential customers declined by 2.1%, while residential revenue per customer relationship grew by 2.1% year over year, given promotional rate step-ups, rate adjustments and the growth of Spectrum Mobile. Those factors were partly offset by a higher mix of nonvideo customers, growth of lower-priced video packages within our base, and $47 million of costs allocated to programmer streaming apps and netted within video revenue. As slide 11 shows, in total residential revenue declined by 0.1%.

轉到幻燈片 11 上的第一季收入。去年，受促銷價上漲、費率調整和 Spectrum Mobile 成長的影響，住宅客戶數量下降了 2.1%，而每客戶關係住宅收入年增了 2.1%。這些因素被非視訊客戶比例的增加、我們客戶群中低價視訊套餐的增長以及分配給程式設計師串流應用程式併計入視訊收入的 4700 萬美元成本部分抵消。如投影片 11 所示，住宅總收入下降了 0.1%。

Turning to commercial revenue. Total commercial grew by 1.4% year over year with mid-market and large business revenue, formerly Spectrum Enterprise growth of 3.9%, driven by PSU growth of 5.4%. When excluding all wholesale revenue, mid-market and large business revenue grew by 4.4%. Small business revenue declined by 0.2%, reflecting a decline in small business customers, partly offset by higher revenue per customer. First quarter advertising revenue declined by 12.9%, primarily due to less political revenue.

轉向商業收入。商業總額年增 1.4%，其中中型市場和大型企業收入（原 Spectrum Enterprise 成長 3.9%），由 PSU 成長 5.4% 推動。不包括所有批發收入，中型市場和大型企業收入成長了 4.4%。小型企業收入下降了 0.2%，反映出小型企業客戶數量的下降，但每位客戶的收入增加部分抵消了下降。第一季廣告收入下降12.9%，主要原因是政治收入減少。

Excluding political, advertising revenue decreased by 5.1% and due to a more challenged national and local advertising market. Other revenue grew by 13.4%, primarily driven by higher mobile devices. And in total, consolidated first quarter revenue was up 0.4% year over year and 0.8% when excluding advertising revenue.

除了政治廣告外，廣告收入下降 5.1%，因為全國和地方廣告市場面臨更大挑戰。其他收入成長了 13.4%，主要得益於行動裝置的普及。整體而言，第一季綜合營收年增 0.4%，扣除廣告收入後成長 0.8%。

Moving to operating expenses and adjusted EBITDA on slide 12. In the first quarter, total operating expenses declined by 2.6% year over year. Programming costs declined by 10.4% due to a 7.3% decline in video customers year over year, a higher mix of lighter video packages and $47 million of costs allocated to programmer streaming apps and netted within video revenue, partly offset by higher programming rates.

前往第 12 張投影片上的營運費用和調整後的 EBITDA。第一季度，總營業費用較去年同期下降2.6%。節目製作成本下降了 10.4%，原因是視訊客戶數量同比下降 7.3%，較輕量級的視訊套餐組合增加，以及分配給程式設計師串流應用程式併計入視訊收入的成本為 4700 萬美元，但節目製作費率的提高部分抵消了這一影響。

First quarter 2025 programming costs included $12 million of favorable adjustments versus $28 million of favorable adjustments in the prior year period. Other cost of revenue increased by 8.7%, primarily driven by higher mobile device sales and higher mobile and mobile service direct costs. Cost to service customers, which combines field and technology operations and customer operations declined 2.2% year over year, primarily due to productivity from our 10-year investments, including lower labor costs. Marketing and residential sales expense grew by 7.7% as we remain focused on driving customer acquisition and given our Life Unlimited brand relaunch in September. Finally, other expense declined by 7.8%, mostly driven by onetime benefits of $75 million.

2025 年第一季的程式設計成本包括 1,200 萬美元的有利調整，而去年同期的有利調整為 2,800 萬美元。其他收入成本增加了 8.7%，主要原因是行動裝置銷售額增加以及行動和行動服務直接成本增加。服務客戶成本（包括現場和技術營運以及客戶營運）年減 2.2%，主要得益於我們 10 年投資帶來的生產力提升，包括勞動成本的降低。由於我們繼續專注於推動客戶獲取，並於 9 月重新推出了 Life Unlimited 品牌，行銷和住宅銷售費用增加了 7.7%。最後，其他支出下降了 7.8%，主要由於 7500 萬美元的一次性福利。

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 4.8% year over year in the quarter and by 3.4% when excluding the onetime benefits in other expense that I mentioned. Turning to net income. We generated $1.2 billion of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the first quarter compared to $1.1 billion last year. Given this quarter's higher adjusted EBITDA and lower interest expense, partly offset by a noncash impairment, driven by a balance sheet write-down of our LA Laker RSN this quarter.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 年成長 4.8%，如果扣除我提到的其他費用中的一次性福利，則增加 3.4%。轉向淨收入。第一季度，我們實現了歸屬於 Charter 股東的淨收入 12 億美元，而去年同期為 11 億美元。鑑於本季調整後的 EBITDA 較高且利息支出較低，但部分被非現金減損所抵消，這是由於本季度我們洛杉磯湖人隊 RSN 的資產負債表減記所致。

Turning to slide 13. Capital expenditures totaled $2.4 billion in the first quarter, down about $400 million from last year's first quarter, driven by the timing of CPE spend, upgrade/rebuild related to network evolution and line extension spend.

翻到第 13 張投影片。第一季的資本支出總計 24 億美元，比去年第一季減少約 4 億美元，主要原因是 CPE 支出的時間安排、與網路發展相關的升級/重建以及線路擴展支出。

While we continue to assess the potential impact of new tariffs, we don't currently expect tariffs to have a significant impact on our capital expenditures for this year and over the next several years. We have attractive agreements with our equipment vendors, and we continue to work with them to minimize the impact of tariffs while at the same time, supporting the health of the cable equipment ecosystem. We continue to expect total 2025 capital expenditures to reach approximately $12 billion, and we have not changed our multiyear capital outlook. We also don't anticipate the tariffs to have a meaningful impact on our P&L as the vast majority of our P&L expenses are programming, labor, and service driven and are not subject to the new tariffs.

雖然我們繼續評估新關稅的潛在影響，但我們目前預計關稅不會對我們今年及未來幾年的資本支出產生重大影響。我們與設備供應商簽訂了有吸引力的協議，並將繼續與他們合作，以盡量減少關稅的影響，同時支持有線設備生態系統的健康。我們繼續預計 2025 年總資本支出將達到約 120 億美元，並且我們沒有改變多年的資本前景。我們也不認為關稅會對我們的損益產生重大影響，因為我們的損益支出絕大部分是由程式設計、勞動力和服務驅動的，不受新關稅的影響。

Turning to free cash flow on slide 14. First quarter free cash totaled $1.6 billion, an increase of approximately $1.2 billion compared to last year's first quarter. The increase was primarily driven by lower capital expenditures, higher EBITDA, and lower cash interest.

轉向第 14 張投影片上的自由現金流。第一季自由現金總額為16億美元，較去年第一季增加約12億美元。成長主要得益於資本支出減少、EBITDA 增加以及現金利息減少。

Just a brief comment on 2025 cash taxes. We still expect under existing tax legislation that our calendar year 2025 cash tax payments will total between $1.6 billion and $2 billion. However, we expect second quarter cash taxes to total around $1 billion given the two cash tax payments we are always required to make in the second quarter and some other timing items.

只是對 2025 年現金稅的簡短評論。我們仍然預計，根據現行稅法，我們 2025 日曆年的現金稅總額將在 16 億美元至 20 億美元之間。然而，考慮到我們在第二季總是需要支付兩筆現金稅款以及其他一些時間項目，我們預計第二季的現金稅總額將在 10 億美元左右。

We finished the quarter with $93.6 billion in debt principal. Our weighted average cost of debt remains at an attractive 5.2%. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $4.9 billion. We began repurchasing stock in late February following shareholder approval of the Liberty Broadband transaction. During the quarter, we repurchased 2.1 million Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units, totaling $750 million (sic - see press release, "$751 million") at an average price per share of $365.

本季結束時，我們的債務本金為 936 億美元。我們的加權平均債務成本仍維持在頗具吸引力的 5.2%。我們目前的年化現金利息為 49 億美元。在股東批准 Liberty Broadband 交易後，我們於二月底開始回購股票。在本季度，我們以每股 365 美元的平均價格回購了 210 萬股 Charter 股票和 Charter Holdings 普通股，總額為 7.5 億美元（原文如此 - 請參閱新聞稿「7.51 億美元」）。

As of the end of the first quarter, our ratio of net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA moved down to 4.06 times and stood at 4.16 times pro forma for the pending Liberty Broadband transaction. The decline in leverage in the quarter was driven by our inability to repurchase shares in the open market until we had shareholder approval of the Liberty Broadband transaction in late February. We expect to gradually increase our leverage to the middle of our 4 to 4.5 times range pro forma for the Liberty transaction over the next several quarters.

截至第一季末，我們的淨債務與過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的比率下降至 4.06 倍，對於即將進行的 Liberty Broadband 交易，該比率為 4.16 倍。本季槓桿率下降的原因是，直到 2 月底獲得股東對 Liberty Broadband 交易的批准之前，我們無法在公開市場上回購股票。我們預計，在接下來的幾個季度中，我們將逐步提高槓桿率，達到 Liberty 交易預計槓桿率的 4 至 4.5 倍的中間值。

As we laid out last quarter, our plan is to grow EBITDA in 2025 and with strong contributions from the mobile business as well as continuing efficiency improvements driven by our investments, we made good progress against that plan in the first quarter. As we continue to grow the business financially, we will also see outsized improvements to free cash flow, driven by the end of our major onetime investments in our network evolution and subsidized rural initiatives. That reduction in capital spending from approximately $12 billion in 2025 to less than $8 billion in 2028 is equivalent to over $25 of annual free cash flow per share based on today's share count. Ultimately, the strength of our P&L and decline in capital intensity over the next several years, combined with our appropriate balance sheet management and resulting share buybacks will drive stronger returns for shareholders for many years.

正如我們上個季度所製定的，我們的計劃是在 2025 年實現 EBITDA 成長，憑藉行動業務的強勁貢獻以及我們投資推動的持續效率提升，我們在第一季度就該計劃取得了良好進展。隨著我們業務的財務持續成長，我們也將看到自由現金流的大幅改善，這得益於我們對網路發展和補貼農村計畫的一次性重大投資的結束。資本支出將從 2025 年的約 120 億美元減少到 2028 年的不到 80 億美元，以今天的股票數量計算，相當於每股年度自由現金流超過 25 美元。最終，未來幾年我們的損益表強勁、資本密集度下降，加上我們適當的資產負債表管理和由此產生的股票回購，將在未來幾年為股東帶來更強勁的回報。

And with that, I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A.

接下來，我將把時間交給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Craig Moffett, MoffettNathanson.

（操作員指示）Craig Moffett，MoffettNathanson。

Two questions, if I could. First, can you just talk about the differences that you're seeing in the converged households where you've got wireless now. And if you could also, by the way, update us on what the attach rate is since we have individual lines, but not penetration of households. But what kind of differences are you seeing in churn rate? Is wireless really benefiting your broadband numbers now that it's reached some level of scale?

如果可以的話，我有兩個問題。首先，您能否談談目前已擁有無線網路的融合家庭中所看到的差異。順便問一下，您是否可以告訴我們目前的連接率是多少，因為我們有單獨的線路，但沒有家庭滲透率。但是您在客戶流失率方面看到了什麼樣的差異呢？無線網路現在已經達到一定規模，它真的能為您的寬頻數量帶來好處嗎？

And then just quickly, Jessica, perhaps you could just let us know whether you think tariffs will have any impact on capital spending and your ability and cost of securing equipment for capital projects.

那麼，傑西卡，你能否快速告訴我們，你認為關稅是否會對資本支出以及你們為資本項目獲取設備的能力和成本產生影響。

Sure. So let me tackle the first one, and then we can together tackle the second one. The converged household difference. We've talked about it before, Craig. There is a substantial difference in the Internet churn rate for a customer who also takes mobile lines.

當然。因此，讓我先解決第一個問題，然後我們再一起解決第二個問題。家庭差異趨於一致。我們之前討論過這個，克雷格。對於同時使用行動線路的顧客來說，網路流失率有很大差異。

To the extent they have more mobile lines, it's even better to the extent it's supported mobile lines, it's even better. And to the extent they have device that they finance through us, it's even better. So incrementally, it goes to that -- those degrees. However, and we are getting a good reasonable penetration on Internet. So what I'm about to say, starts to lose some of its weight.

就其擁有的移動線路數量而言，情況會更好；就其支援的移動線路數量而言，情況會更好。如果他們擁有透過我們融資的設備，那就更好了。因此，它會逐漸達到那個程度。然而，我們在網路上獲得了良好的合理滲透率。因此，我要說的話開始變得不那麼有分量了。

However, there is a natural tendency for customers who are already going to turn less from Internet to be attracted to taking more of your products. And so there's a self-fulfilling prophecy, and so we try not to get too far over our SKUs and estimating the benefit of that churn reduction to Internet. It is significant. Some of it is based on happy customers to begin with. And -- but when you look through the scale that we have today, it is clear that it's not just a self-fulfilling prophecy that there is dramatic benefits to our customer base of having that.

然而，對於那些已經不再使用網路的客戶來說，他們自然會被您的產品所吸引。因此，這是一個自我實現的預言，所以我們盡量不要對我們的 SKU 進行過多的估計，並估算客戶流失減少對網路的益處。這很重要。其中一些是基於客戶滿意度。而且——但當你看看我們今天的規模時，你會發現這不僅僅是一個自我實現的預言，我們的客戶群會因此獲得巨大的利益。

Part of the reason is it isn't just product convergence that is driving that. It's really value convergence. We're saving these customers hundreds and even thousands of dollars. So there is a technology convergence, which allows you to have a faster mobile product because of the combination with our WiFi and increasing CBRS. And so that creates a product variation that's positive for us.

部分原因是，推動這一趨勢的不僅僅是產品融合。這確實是一種價值趨同。我們為這些客戶節省了數百甚至數千美元。因此，存在一種技術融合，透過與我們的 WiFi 和不斷增加的 CBRS 相結合，您可以擁有更快的行動產品。因此，這為我們創造了一種有利的產品變化。

But there's also, as a newcomer to the mobile space, the ability for us to save these customers hundreds and thousands of dollars. And so that drives penetration drive satisfaction and it drives lower churn for the existing Internet relationship as well. We're seeing an improved ability to use Spectrum Mobile from an acquisition standpoint for years. That's been the goal. And so we're starting to see not only the benefits of using mobile for churn reduction but also for -- also in acquisition. We've often talked about the mobile penetration. I don't have that in front of me.

但作為行動領域的新手，我們也有能力為這些客戶節省數十萬美元。這樣一來，滲透力和滿意度都會提高，現有網路關係的流失率也會降低。多年來，從收購的角度來看，我們看到使用 Spectrum Mobile 的能力不斷提高。這就是我們的目標。因此，我們開始看到使用行動裝置不僅可以減少客戶流失，還可以增加客戶獲取量。我們經常談論行動普及率。我面前沒有這個。

Yeah, just under 20% of our Internet customers are mobile customers today.

是的，目前我們的網路客戶中約有 20% 是行動客戶。

And then on the tariff question, do you want to start off?

那麼關於關稅問題，你想開始嗎？

Yeah, I said it in the prepared remarks, Craig, I don't expect tariffs to have a meaningful sort of overall impact on our capital expenditures, and that was part of the reason that I was able to reiterate our guide for the year at $12 billion and our multiyear CapEx outlook, even including what we expect for the impact of tariffs today.

是的，克雷格，我在準備好的發言中說過，我不認為關稅會對我們的資本支出產生重大的整體影響，這也是我能夠重申我們今年 120 億美元的指導方針和我們多年的資本支出前景的原因之一，甚至包括我們對今天關稅影響的預期。

And look, I agree with all that. If you take a step back, I'd just highlight, Charter is an American company offering services to more than 57 million US families and businesses. And we have 100% US-based workforce. And so naturally, Craig, our preference is to buy American made products when they're available and when they're priced competitively and saying the obvious, I think tariff imbalances are, by definition, unfair.

瞧，我同意這一切。如果你退一步來看，我只想強調一下，Charter 是一家美國公司，為超過 5700 萬美國家庭和企業提供服務。我們的員工 100% 都在美國。因此，克雷格，自然而然地，當美國製造的產品有貨且價格具有競爭力時，我們傾向於購買它們，顯而易見的是，我認為關稅不平衡從定義上來說就是不公平的。

And clearly, President Trump has taken a strong stand, at least from the outside, it appears to be creating an important opportunity for other countries to lower their tariffs, eliminate trade barriers. And from our perspective, to benefit US workers like ours and our US-based customers. But again, stating the obvious, we hope that can all happen soon, and we're hoping that's the case.

而且顯然，川普總統已經採取了強硬立場，至少從外部來看，這似乎為其他國家降低關稅、消除貿易壁壘創造了重要機會。從我們的角度來看，這將使我們這樣的美國工人和美國客戶受益。但再次強調，顯而易見的是，我們希望這一切能很快發生，我們也希望如此。

John Hodulik, UBS.

瑞銀的約翰·霍杜里克（John Hodulik）。

Chris, could you update us on the rollout of seamless entertainment? I think we were waiting for some progress on the digital storefront and folding in some new apps. But just any help you can give in terms of the timing. What that product will look like? And it seems as if you guys are expecting some further improvement in some of your underlying KPIs, whether it's video or broadband. So could you flesh that out a little bit? Or is there a way to size the impact that we can expect to see? Thanks.

克里斯，您能向我們介紹一下無縫娛樂的推出情況嗎？我認為我們正在等待數位店面取得一些進展並加入一些新的應用程式。但就時間而言，您可以提供任何幫助。該產品會是什麼樣子？看起來你們似乎期望一些基礎 KPI 能夠進一步改善，無論是視訊還是寬頻。那你能稍微詳細解釋一下嗎？或者有沒有辦法衡量我們預期會看到的影響？謝謝。

Sure. So let's go through the steps that I talked about in the past couple of quarters. The first is to get these direct-to-consumer apps, which are included now as part of our Spectrum TV select services launched in front of customers so that they could actually activate to the extent they were looking for it on spectrum.net or My Spectrum App. And that has now been complete for all but two of the apps, which are remaining, which I believe is Discovery+ and BET+. But the most recent launches were Peacock and AMC+, and I'm sure I'll forget a couple along the way. But now it means, you've got Disney+, you've got ESPN+, you've got ViX, you've got MAX, you've got Peacock, Paramount+, Tennis Channel, all of which either through TV Everywhere or through DTC authentication on those two platforms, spectrum.net or My Spectrum App. You can go authenticate those as a customer, get the ad-supported version of those today.

當然。讓我們回顧一下我在過去幾季談到的步驟。首先是讓這些直接面向消費者的應用程式（現在作為我們 Spectrum TV 精選服務的一部分）在客戶面前推出，以便他們能夠在 spectrum.net 或 My Spectrum App 上實際啟動他們所需的功能。現在，除了剩下的兩個應用程式（我相信是 Discovery+ 和 BET+）外，其他所有應用程式都已完成。但最近推出的是 Peacock 和 AMC+，我肯定會忘記其中幾個。但現在這意味著，你有了 Disney+、有 ESPN+、有 ViX、有 MAX、有 Peacock、Paramount+、網球頻道，所有這些都可以透過 TV Everywhere 或透過這兩個平台、spectrum.net 或 My Spectrum App 上的 DTC 認證來實現。您可以作為客戶去驗證這些內容，並立即取得廣告支援的版本。

The second piece that we were looking to implement with the ability for customers to seamlessly upgrade those ad supported -- I think I said ad free, ad-supported DTC ops to upgrade those to add free for the incremental dollars of retail value, and that is taking place. And for the most part, is implemented for those apps that have been launched as well. And all that's available today in a much easier format. It's not always consistent based on the credential requirements and authentication requirements of the program, but at least it's much more user-friendly today than it was just a couple of months ago. And so we're making real progress there.

我們希望實現的第二點是讓客戶能夠無縫升級那些廣告支持的——我想我說的是無廣告的、廣告支持的 DTC 運營，以免費升級這些運營，從而增加零售價值，而這正在進行中。並且大多數情況下，也針對已經啟動的應用程式實作。如今，所有這些內容都可以透過更簡單的格式來獲得。它並不總是根據程式的憑證要求和身份驗證要求保持一致，但至少現在它比幾個月前更用戶友好。因此我們在這方面取得了真正的進展。

The digital store that we've talked about, we've been launching a little bit later this year, which enables all of that to be put together in an even more seamless way, but also to sell these direct-to-consumer apps to our broadband customers on the increment as well and manage your subscription in and out, including DTC, direct-to-consumer ad-supported inclusion, upgrade to ad-free, selling these apps to broadband customers and upgrading into packages that will allow you to have more value inside these direct-to-consumer.

我們談到的數位商店將在今年稍後推出，這使所有這些功能能夠以更加無縫的方式整合在一起，同時也可以向我們的寬頻客戶增量銷售這些直接面向消費者的應用程序，並管理您的訂閱，包括 DTC、直接面向消費者的廣告支持內容、升級到無廣告，將這些應用程序銷售給寬頻客戶併升級到套餐，讓您在這些直接面向消費者的產品中獲得更多價值。

So it's all making progress. We are at a stage where we're feeling more comfortable of driving that into the marketplace. And so those of you live in footprint, particularly for investors, New York City and Los Angeles, keep an eye out for advertising that will be highlighting the benefits to customers of our video products of being able to include these services.

所以一切都在取得進展。我們目前處於一個更放心將其推向市場的階段。因此，居住在紐約市和洛杉磯的各位投資者，請留意廣告，這些廣告將重點介紹我們的視訊產品能為客戶帶來的好處，包括這些服務。

And I think the really exciting part is having the support of the programmers to help drive and understand that Spectrum Internet is the best place to be able to get these apps and that these apps are included as part of your service for Spectrum TV Select. Really, we've gotten the programs combined to come behind us. And so you'll see advertising that's really compelling helping support the Spectrum products from Disney, MAX, Paramount+, all that's in market today and it's compelling and it recognizes that the best place for customers to get all these values through Spectrum and the best place for programmers to get the value to them is really to have all these services bundled together to the extent a customer can afford it. And so I'm excited.

我認為真正令人興奮的是得到程式設計師的支持，幫助推動和理解 Spectrum Internet 是獲取這些應用程式的最佳場所，而這些應用程式是 Spectrum TV Select 服務的一部分。確實，我們已經將這些計劃結合起來，以應對我們面臨的挑戰。因此，您會看到非常引人注目的廣告，有助於支援迪士尼、MAX、Paramount+ 等目前市場上的所有 Spectrum 產品，它非常引人注目，並且它認識到客戶透過 Spectrum 獲得所有這些價值的最佳場所以及程式設計師獲得價值的最佳場所實際上是將所有這些服務捆綁在一起，以達到客戶可以承受的程度。所以我很興奮。

The video product because of where we've gotten to it. It's not necessarily cheap because of all the rate increases that the programmers took historically, but now there's real value inside there. When you combine that with the utility of Xumo, it gives you the ability to save significant amounts of money. We now have $80 and more value that comes in from the inclusion of these apps as part of your TV select service. And so we're excited about it.

由於我們已經獲得了該視頻產品。由於程式設計師歷史上所承受的費率上漲，它並不一定便宜，但現在它確實有價值。當您將其與 Xumo 的實用性結合時，您可以節省大量資金。現在，透過將這些應用程式作為電視精選服務的一部分，我們可以獲得 80 美元甚至更多的價值。因此我們對此感到很興奮。

So to answer your question, we haven't started to aggressively market that yet. We'll start to see some of that coming around I don't think that the improvement in video that you've seen so far is uniquely driven by these apps and inclusions as of yet. So I would hope that it gets better.

所以回答你的問題，我們還沒有開始積極推銷它。我們將開始看到其中的一些進展，但我認為，到目前為止，您所看到的影片改進並不是由這些應用程式和包含內容單獨推動的。所以我希望情況會變得更好。

The reason our video performance is better is because we've been of the new pricing and packaging that bundles it, allows us to present a lower Internet price, both at promotion and retail when you bundle video. The reason that we're able to do that is because we had more confidence in the value of the video product that we were putting in front of customers, and we felt good about standing behind the products that we offer. And that's a real testament to the programmers who've worked with us over the past 1.5 year to get to that space.

我們的影片表現較好的原因是因為我們採用了新的定價和捆綁包裝，這使得我們在捆綁影片時無論是在促銷還是零售時都能提供更低的網路價格。我們之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為我們對向客戶提供的視訊產品的價值更有信心，並且我們對所提供的產品感到滿意。這對過去一年半來與我們一起努力實現這一目標的程式設計師來說是一個真正的證明。

And I think we're on a good trajectory and it's a little unknown. I'd call it option value. The biggest driver here for us is obviously Internet and mobile. But I think our video results can improve. And I think we're offering a compelling product and at a minimum, it's something that we're proud to put on the bill now and use together with broadband.

我認為我們正處於良好的軌道上，儘管還有點未知。我稱之為選擇權價值。對我們來說，最大的驅動力顯然是網路和行動。但我認為我們的視訊效果可以改善。我認為我們提供的產品非常引人注目，至少，我們很自豪能夠將其納入帳單並與寬頻一起使用。

Do you think the launch of the service also will benefit the trends on the broadband side along with video?

您是否認為該服務的推出也將有利於寬頻和視訊的發展趨勢？

I think over time, that is certainly the goal. If for no other reason that by bundling in mobile and video, it allows us to have a lower presented price for Internet, both in promotion and retail and have lower roll-offs in terms of promotional roll-offs, which benefits not only at acquisition, but service transactions over time and churn over time as well.

我認為隨著時間的推移，這肯定是目標。如果沒有其他原因，透過捆綁移動和視頻，我們可以降低互聯網的報價，無論是在促銷還是零售方面，並且在促銷方面的滾動率較低，這不僅有利於收購，而且有利於隨著時間的推移進行服務交易和流失。

So it was an elegant way to get us into an environment where we could -- despite having a secure product, present a lower price than our competitors because of the all-in value that we could provide to the household, which is unique. None of our competitors were able to have Internet and mobile everywhere they operate. And none of our competitors are able to actually offer that bundled together with video and save importantly, save customers hundreds of thousands of dollars on mobile. We provide them the video product that can potentially reduce their bill compared to what they're paying through this quilt of direct-to-consumer apps that they're paying for. We're not paying for it through unauthorized credentials.

因此，這是一種巧妙的方式，讓我們進入一個環境，​​儘管我們擁有安全的產品，但由於我們可以為家庭提供獨一無二的全價值，因此我們可以提供比競爭對手更低的價格。我們的競爭對手都無法在其經營的任何地方擁有網路和行動裝置。但是我們的競爭對手中沒有一個能夠真正提供與視訊捆綁的服務，更重要的是，能夠為客戶節省數十萬美元的行動費用。我們為他們提供的視訊產品，與他們透過直接面向消費者的應用程式支付的費用相比，可以潛在地減少他們的帳單。我們不會透過未經授權的憑證來支付費用。

Jonathan Chaplin, New Street Research.

喬納森·卓別林（Jonathan Chaplin），新街研究公司（New Street Research）。

Jonathan, you might be on mute.

喬納森，你可能靜音了。

Ben Swinburn, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的本‧斯溫伯恩 (Ben Swinburn)。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Great. Chris, I'm sure you're aware, there's a lot of folks right now and certainly in the investment community and the industry on kind of promotions and promotional roll off. This is not new, but something that Charter has been doing for a long time. We can sort of see in your results now, I think the success you're having in kind of rolling off some of the Spectrum One promotions and driving faster revenue growth in mobile and broadband. I'm just wondering if you could talk about why it's working well for you in this environment?

偉大的。克里斯，我相信你已經意識到了，現在有很多人，當然包括投資界和業內人士，都在進行各種促銷和促銷活動。這並不是什麼新鮮事，而是 Charter 長期以來一直在做的事情。我們現在可以從你們的業績中看到，我認為你們在推出一些 Spectrum One 促銷活動以及推動行動和寬頻收入更快成長方面取得了成功。我只是想知道您是否可以談談為什麼它在這種環境下運作良好？

And maybe more importantly, why you think you can continue to execute that approach with your new Life Unlimited plans in a market that seems to be increasingly focused on kind of price locks and all-in pricing. And I guess, your confidence that it's the right strategy because the revenues are there. As you can tell from the questions, people are still looking for broadband to get better on the KPI front. But I'd love to just get your thoughts given where we are in the market around from a roll-off pricing and packaging in the competitive environment.

也許更重要的是，為什麼您認為在一個似乎越來越關注價格鎖定和全包定價的市場中，您可以繼續透過新的 Life Unlimited 計劃執行這種方法。我想，您有信心這是正確的策略，因為收入就在那裡。從問題中可以看出，人們仍然希望寬頻在 KPI 方面有所進步。但我很想聽聽您的想法，考慮到我們在競爭環境中的定價和包裝方面的市場現狀。

And I just wanted to ask, Jessica, anything you want to give us in terms of OpEx outlook for the year that's different from the end of the fourth quarter call, speaking maybe cost to service and other expenses going to be trending nicely for you year on year? Just any update, if you have any, would be helpful. Thanks so much.

我只是想問一下，傑西卡，關於今年的營運支出前景，您有什麼想告訴我們的嗎？與第四季末的電話會議相比，有什麼不同？比如說，服務成本和其他費用是否會逐年呈現良好的趨勢？如果您有任何更新，那麼它將會很有幫助。非常感謝。

So on the promotions and roll-offs, that's a very deep and extensive topic. So I'll do my best to cover a bit of it. I think first and foremost, you have to have the very best product in terms of speed and reliability. The second is that you have to create value for customers and save them money, whether that's a promotion or at retail. And the third is, yes, we do reuse promotional pricing to drive acquisition.

因此，關於促銷和推廣，這是一個非常深奧且廣泛的話題。因此我會盡力涵蓋其中的一部分。我認為首先，你必須擁有速度和可靠性方面最好的產品。第二，你必須為客戶創造價值並為他們省錢，無論是促銷或零售。第三，是的，我們確實重複使用促銷定價來推動收購。

But even when you're at retail, it needs to stick and you need to minimize the promotional roll-offs that you have because it drives service transactions, customer dissatisfaction can result in churn, particularly if that retail price doesn't deliver the value relative to your competition. So while -- at Charter, we had, we believe, the lowest prices across cable. When you get into a retail rate pricing, we're looking for a way that said, is there an elegant way to migrate to lower pricing at retail for Internet, included here -- primarily bundled, but also including for single-play products. In a way that was not tearing apart the existing base of revenue that we have. And the way to do that is to use the products that we have that are competitive advantage, which is mobile and now given the work that we've done as video to say when you bundle together.

但即使你從事零售業，你也需要堅持下去，並儘量減少促銷活動，因為它會推動服務交易，客戶不滿意可能會導致客戶流失，特別是如果零售價不能提供相對於競爭對手的價值。因此，我們相信，Charter 的有線電視價格是最低的。當您進入零售價定價時，我們正在尋找一種方法，即是否有一種優雅的方式可以遷移到互聯網零售的較低價格，包括這裡 - 主要是捆綁產品，但也包括單一產品。在某種程度上，這不會破壞我們現有的收入基礎。而做到這一點的方法是利用我們擁有競爭優勢的產品，也就是行動產品，現在考慮到我們在影片方面所做的工作，我們可以將它們捆綁在一起。

You can have at a promotional rate $40 gig, which will have, first and foremost, to your question, price lock two years if you bundle with two types of products and three-year price lock, if you bundle with three products. And even when you're out of that, you have two years of promotional roll-off, so five years down the road, you're at a price point that is still very competitive in the marketplace and offers a better product and more value whether it's bundled or not. And that's where we put ourselves in a position to do so in a way that was still -- that works well for customers. It works well for our shareholders as well. So that's without spending 30 minutes on it.

您可以以促銷價獲得 40 美元的演出費，首先，對於您的問題，如果您捆綁兩種產品，則價格鎖定兩年；如果您捆綁三種產品，則價格鎖定三年。即使您沒有達到這個期限，您也有兩年的促銷期，因此五年後，您的價格在市場上仍然非常有競爭力，並且無論是否捆綁銷售，您都可以提供更好的產品和更高的價值。這就是我們能夠以一種仍然對客戶有利的方式做到這一點的地方。這對我們的股東也非常有利。所以這不需要花 30 分鐘的時間。

That's the essence of our strategy and to put more products and value. And so when you think about driving in with gig as opposed to just our 500 megabit per second using the strengths that we have, putting in the unlimited plus version of the product when you bundle together with gig, putting in the cloud DVR is included as part of the service as long as the Xumo Box as well as Xumo Box when you're bundling in that triple play. So it's more than just the amount of PSUs. It's the depth and the quality of the product that we're willing to add in and contribute into that bundle as you move upstream, and it drives quality into the customer base and protects them from churn as these small step-ups occur and most importantly, when you get to retail pricing, because it's a product set and pricing and packaging that cannot be replicated in the marketplace because of how we approach the market. And then if you can combine that with high-quality service, the goal is to have this customer for life.

這就是我們的策略的本質，即提供更多的產品和價值。因此，當您考慮使用千兆而不是僅使用每秒 500 兆比特的速度時，利用我們的優勢，當您與千兆捆綁在一起時，放入無限加版本的產品，放入雲 DVR 就包含在服務中，只要 Xumo Box 和 Xumo Box 包含在三重播放中。因此，這不僅僅是 PSU 的數量問題。隨著您向上游移動，我們願意將產品的深度和質量添加到捆綁包中，這將推動客戶群的質量，並在這些小幅提升時保護他們免於流失，最重要的是，當您獲得零售定價時，因為它是一套產品，其定價和包裝無法在市場上複製，因為我們對待市場的方式。然後，如果您可以將其與高品質的服務結合起來，目標就是終身擁有這個客戶。

And I think we had always done a pretty good job of all those things I said. But we had an opportunity to do even better, and that's what the pricing and packaging that we launched in September, enabled us to do. I think it's early days. And I think the real value of what we've done last September, you won't see until you start to get into year -- beyond year one as you have roll-offs that are less or in fact, bundled price locks that are taking place many have even lower amounts of calls, lower amounts of churn. And then for many years to come, you'll have a compounding effect of those lower service transactions and lower churn because there's more value inside that bundle and there's more customers who are bundled.

我認為我們一直都很好地履行了我所說的一切。但我們有機會做得更好，這就是我們 9 月推出的定價和包裝使我們能夠做到的。我認為現在還為時過早。我認為，我們去年 9 月所做工作的真正價值，要到進入新一年後才會顯現出來——在第一年之後，隨著續訂量的減少，或者事實上，捆綁價格鎖定，許多呼叫量和客戶流失量都會減少。而在未來的許多年裡，你將感受到較低服務交易量和較低客戶流失率的複合效應，因為捆綁服務中蘊含著更多價值，並且捆綁服務的客戶也更多。

Does that make sense?

這樣有道理嗎？

Yeah.

是的。

On the operating expenses side, Ben, we had a little more volatility in the quarter and the growth rate for marketing and residential sales, but I still anticipate over the course of the year that, that line will grow in the low to mid-single digits. And in the same place that we were before on programming, cost per video customer and cost to service customer. We are cost to service customers where I would expect it to be flat to slightly down for the year.

在營運費用方面，本，我們在本季度經歷了一些波動，行銷和住宅銷售的成長率也出現了一些波動，但我仍然預計，在今年全年，該費用將以低至中等個位數的速度增長。與我們之前在程式設計、每位視訊客戶的成本和服務客戶的成本方面的情況相同。我預計我們為客戶提供服務的成本將全年持平或略有下降。

In other expense, I think we hadn't given a suggestion there. I think absent the onetime item in this quarter. And I would just note that other expense is a space where we sometimes do encounter onetime items over the course of the year. Absent those, I would have expected also a low to mid-single-digit growth rate in other expense, but I'll call out that it's subject to those onetime items.

在其他費用方面，我想我們還沒有給建議。我認為本季缺少一次性項目。我想指出的是，其他開支是我們一年中有時會遇到的一次性項目。如果沒有這些，我原本預計其他支出也會有一個低到中等個位數的成長率，但我要說的是，這取決於那些一次性項目。

Jonathan Chaplin, New Street Research.

喬納森·卓別林（Jonathan Chaplin），新街研究公司（New Street Research）。

Sorry, can you hear me now?

抱歉，你現在聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes, we can.

是的，我們可以。

Sorry about that. Chris, I'd love to just delve a little bit more into the Life Unlimited pivot that you guys made back in September. I think this is sort of a really important moment for the company. And when we look at our Recon analytics data on NPS, it looks like there's a steady improvement since September. And I'd love to get a perspective of how that sort of matches your internal tracking.

很抱歉。克里斯，我很樂意更深入地探討一下你們九月所做的 Life Unlimited 轉變。我認為這對公司來說是一個非常重要的時刻。當我們查看 NPS 的 Recon 分析數據時，似乎自 9 月以來出現了穩定改善。我很想了解這與您的內部追蹤如何匹配。

And then I know that you said in response to the earlier question, the real benefits we'll see over time, but I'm wondering what sort of you're seeing in early life churn on the customers that are on the Life Unlimited package relative to what you've seen before and sort of signals that give you confidence in that future improvement?

然後我知道您在回答之前的問題時說過，隨著時間的推移，我們會看到真正的好處，但我想知道與您之前看到的情況相比，Life Unlimited 套餐的早期客戶流失情況如何，以及哪些信號讓您對未來的改善充滿信心？

Yeah. So what you would just ask there is what I would call young -- early 10-year customer retention rate is better post the launch of the bundled pricing and packaging in September, which is what you would expect. And so that answers the question there. I think the -- I think as I was talking through, Ben, the real benefit of this won't be fully recognized until we get beyond year one and into year two and into year three. And I think even going into year four and five, you'll see the benefit of that.

是的。所以你剛才要問的是我所說的年輕——9 月份捆綁定價和包裝推出後，10 年初的客戶保留率會更好，這也是你所期望的。這就回答了這個問題。我認為——正如我所說的，本，只有當我們度過第一年、進入第二年、第三年時，我們才能完全認識到這一舉措的真正好處。我認為即使進入第四年和第五年，你也會看到它的好處。

We are looking at ways when customers call in under what I would call legacy pricing and packaging, ways to migrate them into this new Spectrum pricing and packaging in a way that delivers a much higher level of value at the same or slightly higher price point but giving them a tremendously higher non-product in doing so because we can. And because it preserves margin for us and puts that customer in a much better relationship. And so maybe there's a chance that even prior to the September one year expiration that we can start to actively migrate customers into Spectrum pricing and packaging that was launched at the same time as the Life Unlimited branding. And that may give us an opportunity to do more with that legacy customer or existing customer base earlier.

當客戶根據我所說的傳統定價和套餐打電話時，我們正在研究如何將他們遷移到新的 Spectrum 定價和套餐中，以便以相同或略高的價格提供更高水平的價值，但在這樣做的同時給他們帶來極高的非產品價值，因為我們可以。因為它為我們保留了利潤，並與客戶建立了更好的關係。因此，也許有機會，甚至在 9 月一年到期之前，我們就可以開始積極地將客戶遷移到與 Life Unlimited 品牌同時推出的 Spectrum 定價和套餐。這可能使我們有機會更早與老客戶或現有客戶群進行更多合作。

As it relates to NPS, there are so many different factors going in. You can have great improving NPS and then you can have a small rate increase that puts a ding into that. But I do agree, generally, we see the same overall trend that Net Promoter Score is increasing. That's a function of the pricing and packaging. That's the function of the quality and the reliability of the product.

由於它與 NPS 相關，因此涉及許多不同的因素。您可以大幅提高 NPS，然後小幅提高費率，但這會對其造成影響。但我確實同意，總的來說，我們看到了相同的總體趨勢，即淨推薦值正在增加。這是定價和包裝的功能。這就是產品品質和可靠性的作用。

It's also a function of changes we've made with our customer commitment. And some of the softer things that we've done inside of the call centers to make sure our customers know that the employee that they're speaking to generally is an employee based here in the US and that we appreciate the time the customers had with us and really their commitment to us as a Spectrum. And so we've made a lot of changes in that environment too and standing behind the product with credits, providing that transparency and proactively providing credits when we do miss the mark. I think goes a long way.

這也是我們根據客戶承諾所做的改變的結果。我們在呼叫中心內部採取了一些較為溫和的措施，以確保我們的客戶知道他們所交談的員工是美國本土的員工，並且我們感謝客戶與我們共度的時光以及他們作為 Spectrum 對我們做出的承諾。因此，我們也在這種環境下做出了很多改變，並透過信用支持產品，提供透明度，並在我們確實沒有達到目標時主動提供信用。我認為會有很大的幫助。

All those things put together is how you get Net Promoter Score to go up. So value, reliability, great service, recognition, US-based employee that we have 100% for sales and service infrastructure, which I don't think we touted enough. And I think all that is working to your point. And -- but I think it's very early days. And I think you'll see bumps along the road, but the overall trend should be going up into the right.

所有這些因素結合在一起，就能讓淨推薦值上升。因此，價值、可靠性、優質的服務、認可度、我們 100% 的銷售和服務基礎設施均由美國員工提供，我認為我們對這些還不夠重視。我認為所有這些都符合你的觀點。但我認為現在還為時過早。我認為你會看到道路上有一些顛簸，但整體趨勢應該是向右上升的。

And Chris, if there's no change in market growth or the competitive environment from what we're seeing right now, the improvements that you expect in year two, three, four, et cetera, do you think those are enough to get you back to positive broadband subscriber growth?

克里斯，如果從目前的情況來看，市場成長或競爭環境沒有變化，您預計第二年、第三年、第四年等的改善足以讓您的寬頻用戶數量恢復正成長嗎？

I do.

我願意。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的吉姆·施耐德。

I was wondering if you can maybe give us a bit of an update on what you see in terms of the broader consumer behavior in your base. One of your peers sort of called out higher mobile substitution in some of their cohorts. I'm wondering if you're seeing any of those effects. But then more broadly, maybe talk about any consumer trade-down effects pressuring credit metrics, although they didn't seem to show up this quarter in any way. Just kind of wondering what you're hearing anecdotally from the consumer side based on all the sort of macro uncertainty we have right now. Thank you.

我想知道您是否可以向我們介紹您所看到的更廣泛的消費者行為的最新情況。您的一位同事指出，他們的一些群組中的行動替代率更高。我想知道您是否看到了其中任何一種效果。但從更廣泛的角度來看，也許可以談論消費者降級效應對信貸指標的壓力，儘管這些影響在本季似乎沒有以任何方式顯現出來。我只是有點想知道，基於我們目前面臨的各種宏觀不確定性，您從消費者方面聽到了什麼軼事。謝謝。

Sure. Look, I don't think what we're seeing is that different, and I'll come to that. But I just want to be clear, our sales are up and our churn is relatively stable despite the higher nonpay disconnect that Jessica mentioned. So we feel good about our own trends. The factors that are going into broadband industry growth right now, we got the end of ACP, it's largely behind us. I assume that's the same for the industry as a whole.

當然。你看，我不認為我們看到的有什麼不同，我會談到這一點。但我只想明確一點，儘管傑西卡提到的未付款脫節現象較高，但我們的銷售額仍在上升，客戶流失率相對穩定。因此我們對自己的趨勢感到滿意。目前影響寬頻產業成長的因素是，ACP 已經終結，基本上已經過去了。我認為整個產業都是一樣的。

As you mentioned, mobile substitution, including some low-end cellphone Internet migration is almost back to where it was pre-pandemic. So it's continuing. But my hope is that slows and gets back to where it was, and that's our expectation. So both of those, I think, are going in our direction in terms of industry growth. But one of the big bogeys here is we'll have to see where the housing market goes. And that's always been a contributor to broadband industry growth. That hasn't changed.

正如您所說，行動替代，包括一些低階手機的網路遷移幾乎已經恢復到疫情前的水平。所以它還在繼續。但我希望這種成長速度能夠減緩並恢復到原來的水平，這也是我們的期望。因此，我認為，就行業成長而言，這兩者都朝著我們的方向發展。但這裡最大的問題是我們必須觀察房地產市場的走向。這一直是寬頻產業成長的推動因素。這一點沒有改變。

So the first two I mentioned, end of ACP, mobile substitution reversion, I think, are going in our direction. The housing climate is a little bit unknown right now, and that will have an impact. But even that tends to be temporary in nature. And then the other thing that you asked about is essentially, I think the market climate really is a recession question. We have not seen anything significant with the consumer so far and neither in non-pay disconnect rates, they're up slightly only because of the lack of ACP.

因此，我認為我提到的前兩個目標，即 ACP 的終結和移動替代回歸，都正朝著我們的方向發展。目前的住房環境有點未知，這將產生影響。但即使這樣，其性質也往往是暫時的。然後，您問到的另一件事本質上是，我認為市場環境確實是一個衰退問題。到目前為止，我們還沒有看到消費者出現任何重大變化，未付費斷線率也沒有出現任何顯著變化，只是由於缺乏 ACP，斷線率才略有上升。

And I would say in a market environment where customers are rightfully tightening their wallet, our strategy, if you go back and think about what I just said with Ben and Jonathan, our strategy of having the very best products and service at attractive prices and focusing on saving customers' money. If you look at that slide that's in the presentation that we have today, it's huge money. And so in a recessionary in any environment, but particularly in a recessionary environment, I think our products, and our pricing works very well across all environments.

我想說，在客戶理所當然地勒緊錢包的市場環境下，我們的策略是，如果你回過頭來想一想我剛才對本和喬納森說的話，我們的策略是以有吸引力的價格提供最好的產品和服務，並專注於節省客戶的錢。如果你看一下我們今天簡報中的投影片，你會發現這是一筆巨款。因此，在任何經濟衰退環境下，特別是在經濟衰退環境下，我認為我們的產品和定價在所有環境下都非常有效。

And I think even in a recession, we can present value to customers and stickiness through having the best products at the best prices advertising and telling customers you can save them hundreds or even thousands of dollars on converged broadband and mobile services is a great way. And if you can put together the video package, whether it's through skinny bundles or through really full, when I say full, meaning include linear live video plus all of the direct-to-consumer app bundles in a way that creates value and saves money in a recessionary environment, I think you're in a good position.

我認為，即使在經濟衰退時期，我們也可以透過以最優惠的價格提供最好的產品來向客戶展示價值和客戶黏性，並告訴客戶你可以為他們節省數百甚至數千美元的融合寬頻和行動服務費用，這是一種很好的方法。如果你能把視訊包整合在一起，無論是透過精簡捆綁包還是透過真正完整的捆綁包，當我說完整時，意味著包括線性直播視訊加上所有直接面向消費者的應用程式捆綁包，以一種在經濟衰退環境中創造價值和節省資金的方式，我認為你處於有利地位。

And I would just add one final thing to that. We do have -- we're proud of that, a variety of packages that meet the needs of low-income or income-constrained consumers, we always have, and we target that market to make sure that we're servicing all areas of our communities. So I don't have a crystal ball on the economy. But I think we're pretty well positioned for potential headwinds in a recessionary environment, if that's what's coming. I'm not -- like I said, I don't have a crystal ball, and I'm not predicting that.

我最後還想補充一點。我們確實有——我們對此感到自豪，我們一直都有各種滿足低收入或收入受限消費者需求的套餐，並且我們瞄準這個市場，以確保我們為社區的所有領域提供服務。所以我對經濟沒有預測能力。但我認為，如果經濟衰退真的來臨，我們已經做好了應對潛在逆風的準備。我不是——就像我說的，我沒有水晶球，我也不會預測這一點。

I'm just saying that we're in a pretty good spot.

我只是說我們目前處境很好。

Operator, we'll take our final question, please.

接線員，請回答我們的最後一個問題。

Bryan Kraft, Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的布萊恩·克拉夫特。

Can you hear me okay? I just have a question on fiber competition. Would you be able to give us a sense for the difference in your broadband penetration levels in markets where you've competed with fiber for a long time relative to the non-fiber markets? Are you splitting the market 50/50 in those areas after you kind of take out the portion captured by fixed wireless at this point? And also specifically in the older markets, has it been stable as of late? Or is competitive fiber still gaining share in those areas? Just trying to get some more color there, if you wouldn't mind sharing that. Thank you.

你聽見我說話嗎？我只是想問一下關於光纖競爭的問題。您能否向我們介紹一下，在你們長期與光纖競爭的市場中，相對於非光纖市場，你們的寬頻普及率水準有何差異？在你們移除目前由固定無線佔據的部分之後，你們是否在這些地區以 50/50 的比例劃分市場？特別是老市場，最近情況是否穩定？或者競爭性光纖在這些地區的份額是否仍在增加？只是想在那裡獲得更多的色彩，如果你不介意分享的話。謝謝。

Sure. The -- it's been a while, but we've provided color on this in the past. When we have new fiber overbuilders inside of our markets, we have a few penetration points of rollback. That's been the case. It's still the case. And so it's just a question of mix and newness of fiber rollout. And the pace of fiber rollout has been about the same.

當然。這已經有一段時間了，但我們過去曾對此提供過說明。當我們的市場中出現新的光纖過度建設者時，我們有幾個回滾的滲透點。事實就是如此。至今仍是如此。所以這只是光纖鋪設的混合和新穎性的問題。光纖鋪設的速度也大致相同。

So when you think about all of the market dynamics that are impacting our Internet growth rate. It isn't -- because that fiber overbuild has been there for more than a decade, the impact of fiber has been consistent and steady. And it's really more about the mobile substitution and the introduction of a new low-end competitor with cellphone Internet. Those have been the two big drivers and just market size because of all the things that we've been talking about through this call.

因此，當您考慮所有影響我們互聯網增長率的市場動態時。事實並非如此——因為光纖過度建設已經存在十多年了，光纖的影響一直是一致且穩定的。事實上，這更多的是關於行動替代和引入具有手機互聯網功能的新的低階競爭對手。由於我們在這次電話會議上討論了所有事情，所以這兩個主要驅動因素和市場規模都是如此。

So the other thing I would tell you about fiber penetration is at least inside of our footprint, which goes to your question of 50/50 split. That's not what we see. It's never been what we see. It's not what we see today. And so when you hear other companies talk about the type of penetrations that they are getting, all I can say is they must be having outsized penetration in non-charter markets because we don't see a 50/50 split ourselves continuing even after a 10-year rollout of the fiber overbuild of having higher penetration than 50/50 of the broadband penetration inside those markets.

因此，我想告訴你的有關光纖滲透率的另一件事至少是在我們的覆蓋範圍內，這與你提出的 50/50 分割的問題有關。我們看到的並不是這樣的。它從來都不是我們所看到的。這與我們今天所見的不一樣。因此，當您聽到其他公司談論他們所獲得的滲透類型時，我只能說，他們在非包機市場中一定擁有超大的滲透率，因為即使在光纖過度建設 10 年後，我們的滲透率仍不會高於這些市場中 50/50 的寬頻滲透率，我們也沒有看到 50/50 的份額持續存在。

Thanks, Bryan. That concludes our call. Thanks, everyone. Leila. I'll pass it back to you.

謝謝，布萊恩。我們的通話到此結束。謝謝大家。萊拉。我會把它轉交給你。

Thank you all.

謝謝大家。

Thank you for joining the call today. We have now concluded, and you may disconnect.

感謝您今天參加電話會議。我們現在已經結束，您可以斷開連線。