Cable operator Charter Communications, in which John Malone's Liberty Broadband owns a big stake, on Friday reported that it lost 70,000 pay TV subscribers in the first quarter, fewer than in the year-ago quarter.
It also added more broadband users than in the year-ago period during what was the first quarter to be affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Charter chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said that recently improved video subscriber trends "may be temporary" due to lockdowns and "may reverse in an economic downturn." Some analysts have predicted that the unemployment and recession caused by the pandemic could boost pay TV subscriber lossesonce stay-at-home orders are lifted.