WOW! (PRNewsfoto/WideOpenWest, Inc.)

Penetration Rates increased in 2024 to 16.6% in Greenfield Markets

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — WideOpenWest, Inc. (“WOW!” or the “Company”) (NYSE: WOW), one of the nation’s leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes nearly 2.0 million residential, business and wholesale consumers, today announced financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024.

Financial Highlights ⁽¹⁾

• Fourth quarter Total Revenue of $152.6 million, a decrease of $16.2 million, or 9.6%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2023
• Full year Total Revenue of $630.9 million, a decrease of $55.8 million, or 8.1%, compared to the corresponding period of 2023
• Fourth quarter HSD Revenue totaled $104.9 million, a decrease of $3.8 million, or 3.5% compared to fourth quarter of 2023
• Full year HSD Revenue totaled $423.6 million, a decrease of $6.8 million, or 1.6%, compared to the corresponding period of 2023
• Net Loss was $10.6 million and $58.8 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024
• Net loss of 10,200 HSD RGUs for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, including 5,400 related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
• Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA was $73.7 million, an increase of $2.5 million, or 3.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023
• Full year Adjusted EBITDA was $288.4 million, an increase of $13.0 million, or 4.7% compared to the corresponding period of 2023
• Passed approximately 31,500 new homes in Greenfield markets and increased penetration rates to 16.6% for the year ended December 31, 2024

“I am pleased with the progress we made in 2024, especially in our Greenfield markets where we passed an additional 31,500 new homes and increased our penetration rate to 16.6%,” said Teresa Elder, WOW!’s CEO. “We continue to see the success of our simplified pricing strategy which contributed to year-over-year ARPU growth, reinforcing our commitment to our strategy.”

“Our fourth quarter results reflect continued momentum in our Greenfield fiber expansion markets and strong cost management,” said John Rego, WOW!’s CFO. “We saw 4.7% year-over-year growth in our Adjusted EBITDA, as we drove efficiencies in our business and re-accelerated our investments in new markets.”

Revenue

Total Revenue was $152.6 million and $630.9 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024, down $16.2 million and $55.8 million as compared to the corresponding periods in 2023.

Total Subscription Revenue for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 was $140.3 million and $581.8 million, down $15.2 million, or 9.8%, and $53.8 million, or 8.5%, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2023. The decrease was the result of a $49.6 million shift in service offering mix primarily driven by the reduction in Video and HSD RGUs, and a $25.5 million decrease in volume across all services. The decrease was partially offset by a $21.3 million increase in average revenue per unit (“ARPU”), inclusive of $2.5 million of revenue credits issued for Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and rate increases issued for Video services and, to a lesser extent, HSD services, during 2024.  ARPU is calculated as subscription revenue for each of the HSD, Video and Telephony services divided by the average total RGUs for each service category for the respective period.

Other Business Services Revenue totaled $4.8 million and $19.6 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024, down $0.5 million, or 9.4%, and $1.4 million, or 6.7%, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2023. The decrease in each period was primarily due to decreases in data center revenue.

Other Revenue totaled $7.5 million and $29.5 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024, down $0.5 million, or 6.3%, and $0.6 million, or 2.0%, compared to the corresponding periods in 2023.  The decrease in each period is primarily due to decreases in shopping, line assurance, and advertising, partially offset by increases in streaming partner revenue.

Costs and Expenses

Operating Expenses (excluding Depreciation and Amortization) totaled $62.1 million and $256.8 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024, down $9.6 million, or 13.4%, and $44.2 million, or 14.7%, compared to the corresponding periods in 2023. The decreases are primarily driven by reduction in direct operating expenses, specifically programming expenses of $35.4 million, which aligns with the reduction in Video RGUs between periods, increases in capitalizable activity, as well as decreases in bad debt expenses, call center costs, and stock compensation, partially offset by increases in compensation related expenses.  We expect the reduction in Video RGUs and associated decrease in programming expenses to continue as our customer base shifts towards HSD only.

Selling, General, and Administrative totaled $42.9 million and $155.0 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024, up $9.1 million, or 26.9%, and down $45.4 million, or 22.7%, compared to the corresponding periods in 2023. The decrease in the full year period is primarily attributable to a $43.5 decrease in the patent litigation expense net of a $3.8 refund from an indemnification claim related to this matter, in addition to decrease in  marketing expenses and stock compensation.  The decreases are partially offset by increases in legal and professional fees primarily related to the negotiation and execution of our Priority Credit Agreement in the fourth quarter of 2024, which primarily drove the increase in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year period.  The Company also received $1.5 million of business interruption proceeds in the fourth quarter of 2024 related to the hurricane damage in the third and fourth quarters which are recorded as an offset to selling, general and administrative expenses.

Net Loss

Net Loss for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 was $10.6 million and $58.8 million, compared to $43.5 million and $287.7 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023. The net profit margin was (6.9)% and (9.3)% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to a net profit margin of (25.8)% and (41.9)% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 was $73.7 million and $288.4 million, an increase of $2.5 million and an increase of  $13.0 million, compared to the corresponding periods in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA Margin was 48.3% and 45.7% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to 42.2% and 40.1% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

Subscribers

WOW! reported Total Subscribers of 478,700 as of December 31, 2024, a decrease of 25,400 compared to December 31, 2023, down 11,800 compared to September 30, 2024. HSD RGUs totaled 470,400 as of December 31, 2024, a decrease of 19,700 compared to December 31, 2023, down 10,200 compared to September 30, 2024.

Market Expansion

Market Expansion projects passed an additional 11,600 homes for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, including 9,300 additional homes in Greenfield markets and 2,300 additional homes in Edge-out projects. As of December 31, 2024, Greenfield initiatives passed a total of 61,900  homes and 10,300 subscribers, representing a 16.6% penetration rate.

At December 31, 2024, the 2024 Edge-out projects passed 8,300 new homes and 3,300 subscribers, representing a 39.8% penetration rate. The 2023 Edge-out projects passed 18,500 new homes and 5,700 subscribers, which represents 30.8% penetration. The 2022 Edge-out projects passed 2,900 new homes and 900 subscribers, which represents 31.0% penetration.

Capital Expenditures

Capital Expenditures totaled $215.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, representing a $53.1 million, or 19.7%, decrease compared to the year ended December 31, 2023.  The decrease is primarily related to decreases in line extensions as the Company paused market expansion construction during the third quarter of 2024 pending the additional liquidity provided by our Priority Credit Agreement. Core Capital Expenditures, or total capital expenditures excluding expansion capital expenditures, equated to 20.8% of Total Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Liquidity and Leverage

During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company entered into a new Priority Credit Agreement which refinanced our prior indebtedness and included $200.0 million in new borrowings.  Borrowings under our Priority Credit Agreement consists of three tranches: (i) a first out term loan, which bears interest at SOFR plus 7.00%, (ii) a second out term loan, which bears interest at SOFR plus 3.00%, and (iii) a revolving credit facility which bears interest at SOFR plus 2.75%.

As of December 31, 2024, the total outstanding amount of long-term debt and finance lease obligations was $1,017.4 million, and cash and cash equivalents were $38.8 million. Total Net Leverage as of December 31, 2024 was 3.5x on a LTM Adjusted EBITDA basis and undrawn revolver capacity totaled $150.7 million.

Acquisition Proposal Update

On May 2, 2024, the WOW! Board of Directors received an unsolicited non-binding preliminary acquisition proposal from DigitalBridge Investments, LLC and various Crestview entities. A special committee of independent directors has been formed to evaluate the Proposal. The Special Committee has retained Centerview Partners and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as its financial and legal advisors. The work of the Special Committee is ongoing. WOW! does not undertake any obligation to make any further public comment or disclosure on matters related to the proposal or related matters unless and until WOW! determines that additional disclosure is appropriate or required by law.

First Quarter 2025 Guidance 

Webcast

WOW! will host a webcast on Friday, March 14, 2025, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern to discuss the operating and financial results contained in this press release. The conference call and webcast will be broadcast live on the Company’s investor relations website at ir.wowway.com. Those parties interested in participating can use the information as follows:

A webcast version of the call will be available on the Company’s investor relations website.