Top MSOs record largest Q2 revenue gains since 2008

While the cable industry in the second quarter faced multiple obstacles — including seasonality, a sluggish economy and aggressive competition from DBS and telcos — publicly traded operators reported healthy top-line gains, increased operating cash flow and a higher ARPU. And while basic video customers fell 1.1% sequentially,advanced-services trends remained on the upswing.

The seven operators in our table collectively grew revenues by 6.2% to $19.80 billion from $18.65 billion in the second quarter of 2011, improving on the 5.2% annual growth posted in the second quarter of 2011.

ExcludingSuddenlink Communications, for which we do not have financial metrics prior to 2008, these companies saw their largest combined year-over-year second-quarter gain since 2008.

Operating cash flows grew 5.3% on average, keeping cash flow margins near the 40% mark, although the metric dropped 32 basis points year over year, to 39.2% from 39.6%. Looking at the listed operators, however, shows widely different results, with annual margin changes ranging from a fall of 336 basis points at Cablevision Systems Corp. to a gain of 138 basis points at Suddenlink.