Charter raised eyebrows Tues when it acknowledged that its began marketing $69.97, 12-month triple-play bundles system-wide to select, targeted customers. The bargain basement price only gets sub lifeline basic video (27 channels), and therein lies the MSO’s strategy. “It allows us to cross sale and upsale so that our final RPU and profitability is about the same as our $99 customer,” CEO Neil Smit said during UBS’ media conference. ARPU is around $120-$130 for it, he noted. Charter started trialing the $70 offer in a couple markets earlier this year, opting to take it across the entire enterprise because of the high response rates. The promo actually goes after higher-end customers because of the upsale potential, and it’s primary purpose is to drive call volume, Smit said. At least one analyst has faith. “We believe Charter has spent a considerable amount of time under CMO Bob Quigley evaluating the impact of various package pricing and the resulting ARPU,” Pali’s Rich Greenfield wrote. The analyst questioned why more MSOs haven’t tried cheaper triple-play offers given how Cablevision has maintained both the lowest offering ($90) and highest triple-play ARPU ($130).

The Daily

Subscribe
Friday–July 11

Next Frontier: CableLabs Explores More than Speed Connectivity Era

Internet speed records are all the rage these days, with two separate breakthroughs making the headlines recently. One is more in the distant future, but the other hits closer to home.

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Sep 11
2025 Faxies Awards Faxies Nominations Open! Final deadline: 4/4/25
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.