Rogers TV subscribers down 13,000 in 4Q 2016

Thursday, January 26th, 2017
Rogers Communications logo

Announced a long-term agreement with Comcast to bring X1 IPTV to our customers, expected in early 2018; net income impacted by a $484 million charge due to discontinued investment in our own IPTV product

TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016.

Cable revenue increased marginally as strong Internet revenue growth of 9% was largely offset by the decline in Television and Phone revenue. We continue to see an ongoing shift in product mix to higher-margin Internet services. Excluding the impact of lower wholesale Internet revenue as a result of the CRTC decision that reduced interim access service rates, Cable and Internet revenue would have increased by 2% and 12%, respectively.

The 4% decrease in Television revenue this quarter was a result of:

  • the decline in Television subscribers over the past year; and
  • more promotional pricing provided to subscribers; partially offset by
  • the impact of Television service pricing changes implemented over the past year.

Cable Subscriber Results – Television (in thousands)

                      Three months       Twelve months
                 ended December 31   ended December 31
                ------------------  ------------------
                 2016   2015   Chg   2016   2015   Chg
                -----  -----  ----  -----  -----  ----
Net losses       (13)   (24)    11   (76)   (128)   52
Total           1,820  1,896  (76)  1,820  1,896  (76)

Partnership with Comcast

Late in 2016, Rogers announced a long-term agreement with Comcast Corporation (Comcast) to bring our customers a best-in-class TV product and expect to deploy Comcast’s X1 IP-based video platform in early 2018. We are moving to this hosted platform to ensure we will have access to the scale and technical roadmap needed to meet the ongoing pace of IPTV innovation. Customers will benefit from Comcast’s substantial research and development investments and their continuing commitment to innovation. Comcast attributes the transformative X1 platform to improving Xfinity TV subscriber performance, reducing churn, and increasing engagement for customers.

Our adoption of the X1 platform not only includes access to the most advanced IPTV solution, but also to Comcast’s state-of-the-art customer premise equipment, including advanced DOCSIS 3.1 Wi-Fi gateways, Wi-Fi extenders, and wireless set-top boxes as well as the ability to send video to other third party companion devices (such as tablets and smartphones).

By mid-2017, Rogers plans to bring its customers the new advanced DOCSIS 3.1 Wi-Fi gateway, which is capable of delivering up to nine gigabits per second over Wi-Fi within the home, supports voice, home monitoring, and automation applications, and can act as the core in-home gateway for video and data applications. Throughout 2017, we also intend to provide our customers with further enhancements to our existing TV platform, including more 4K content.

First on the innovation roadmap, we intend to adopt Comcast’s new Digital Home solution. This whole-home networking solution will provide customers with a simple, fast, and intuitive way to control and manage their connected devices. The cloud-based platform will link to the new DOCSIS 3.1 Wi-Fi gateway devices to deliver fast, reliable connectivity in the home and will allow people to easily add or pause devices, pair Wi-Fi extenders that boost signal strength, and use voice controls to see who is on the network, all in a safe and secure manner. This should help support the broader adoption of connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The all-IP combination of voice, data, video, smart home monitoring, and IoT using a combination of the most extensive DOCSIS 3.1-based, gigabit-capable network in Canada, along with Rogers and Comcast technology, will provide our customers with a best-in-class next generation residential service suite in Canada.

We recorded a net loss of $9 million this quarter, primarily as a result of the $484 million impairment and other charges we recognized related to the discontinued investment in our Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) product.