Time Warner Cable came away with a black eye in its fight with CBS over programming fees.
The New York cable operator lost 306,000 video subscribers in the third quarter — worse than analysts predicted — as customers fled to rivals during its month-long CBS blackout in August.
CEO Glenn Britt said he didn’t regret going to war even though the battle was bruising.
“We are better off with CBS than we would have been if we had not had this fight,” Britt said during an earnings call.
Overall, Time Warner Cable reported weaker-than-expected results. Net income fell 34.2 percent, to $532 million. Revenue rose 2.9 percent, to $5.5 billion, even though the company lost television, broadband and phone subscribers.
But some analysts said the lackluster report increased the likelihood of industry consolidation, sending the stock up 3 percent on Thursday to close at $120.15.
Liberty boss John Malone, who has a stake in cable operator Charter Communications, has called for consolidation to beat back Web-only streaming rivals.
While Britt said he was open to consolidation, he suggested that there was little in the way of a concrete offer on the table.
“We are focused on making money for you [shareholders], rather than just on some fuzzy notion of industry consolidation,” Britt said.
Britt, who plans to retire at year-end, revealed earlier this week that his cancer had returned. He will be succeeded by COO Rob Marcus.