Rutledge: 'Netflix Is Our Friend'

Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said cable operators should embrace over-the-top video services because they highlight the value of their broadband offerings.

“Netflix is our friend, they drive broadband,” Rutledge said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York Wednesday. “We embrace OTT television because it makes our broadband superiority more clear in the eyes of consumers.”

Charter has added about 1.2 million broadband customers since Rutledge came on board in 2012, raised its minimum data speeds to 60 Megabits per second and revamped its programming packages to better fit consumer needs. With the addition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks – deals that Rutledge believes still have a chance of closing by the end of the year – Charter will have significantly increased its scale to about 17.4 million customers.

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