Liberty Global Narrows Net Loss

ENGLEWOOD: With subscriber gains helping to drive second-quarter revenues up by 21 percent to $2.62 billion, Liberty Global narrowed its net loss for the period from $684 million a year ago to $347 million.

"Our second quarter results demonstrate continued strength in our core European cable business, driven by our systems in Western Europe," said Mike Fries, president and CEO, citing in particular the company’s German business.

Fries added, “We remain highly focused on innovation and new product development, especially in our digital video business. The soft launch of our next-generation Horizon home gateway device is planned for Q4 in the Netherlands, together with our new online video service which will stream dozens of the best Dutch television channels and offer thousands of hours of on-demand content. We plan to introduce similar products in additional European markets next year beginning with UPC Cablecom in Switzerland.”

As of June 30, the company had 28.3 million RGUs (revenue generating units), consisting of 16.6 million video, 6.8 million broadband internet and 4.9 million telephony services being provided to 17.6 million unique customers. The RGU base was up by 4 percent in the year, driven primarily by organic growth of 972,000 RGUs as well as the impact of small in-market acquisitions.