Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE: OPTU) today reports results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026.

Dennis Mathew, Optimum Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Our second quarter results reflect disciplined execution across every part of our business. We expanded gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA margin, drove sequential improvement in broadband trends, delivered our best second-quarter mobile line growth to date, grew convergence ARPU year over year, and continued to expand our footprint, all while reducing operating expenses and simplifying how we operate. We are sharpening our go-to-market approach, deepening customer relationships through convergence, and transforming the customer experience to support stronger broadband performance over time. At the same time, we continue to take deliberate steps to strengthen our financial foundation, which remains a top priority as we position the business for long-term success. We remain focused on executing every day, investing where we see the strongest returns, and delivering best-in-class connectivity to the communities we serve."

Second Quarter 2026 Overview

• Total revenue of $2.02 billion in Q2 2026 (-5.8% year over year)
• Residential revenue of $1.54 billion in Q2 2026 (-6.7% year over year)
  • Residential average revenue per user (ARPU)⁽¹⁾ of $132.22 (-1.1% year over year)
  • Convergence ARPU⁽²⁾ of $79.80 (+2.4% year over year)
• Net loss attributable to stockholders of ($291.8) million (($0.67)/share on a diluted basis) in Q2 2026, compared to ($96.3) million (($0.21)/share on a diluted basis) in Q2 2025. Net loss margin attributable to stockholders of -14.4% in Q2 2026
• Net cash flows from operating activities of $228.1 million (-44.6% year over year) in Q2 2026
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽³⁾ of $785.7 million (-2.2% year over year), margin of 38.8% in Q2 2026
• Cash capital expenditures of $320.0 million (-16.6% year over year), capital intensity⁽⁴⁾ of 15.8% in Q2 2026
• Free Cash Flow (deficit)⁽³⁾ of ($91.9) million in Q2 2026 compared to $28.4 million in Q2 2025

Second Quarter 2026 Key Operational Highlights

• Driving Operational Improvements and Margin Expansion
  • Year-to-date Q2 2026 Operating Expense (excluding share-based compensation) improved by -5%, supported by lower truck rolls and call volumes, lower sales acquisition costs, and workforce optimization
  • Gross margin of 71.0% in Q2 2026 expanded by 180 basis points year over year
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin⁽³⁾ of 38.8% in Q2 2026 expanded by 140 basis points year over year, reflecting cost discipline
  • Continued simplifying the end-to-end customer journey through improved customer communications, digital capabilities, and operational enhancements
• Strengthening Broadband Strategy Amid Competitive Market; Net Losses of 40k
  • Total broadband primary service units (PSUs) net losses of -40k in Q2 2026, which benefited from a bulk agreement, compared to -35k in Q2 2025, ending total broadband subscribers of 4.0 million
  • Sharpening go-to-market execution through simpler offers and pricing and packaging enhancements, supporting gross add performance
  • Enhancing customer retention through data-driven base management and proactive customer engagement
  • Continued higher-speed tier adoption, with 53% of the residential broadband customer base taking 1 Gig or higher speeds at the end of Q2 2026, up from 38% in Q2 2025
• Growing Through Mobile; Best Second Quarter Mobile Line Net Add Performance, with +50k Line Net Additions in Q2 2026
  • Mobile line net additions of +50k in Q2 2026, representing the strongest second quarter performance, bringing total mobile lines to 724k
  • Residential mobile service revenue grew 40% year over year to $53 million in Q2 2026, compared to $38 million in Q2 2025
  • Total mobile penetration of the broadband base⁽⁵⁾ reached 8.9% at the end of Q2 2026, compared to 6.9% in Q2 2025
• Improving Video Margin and Customer Retention with New Tiered Offerings
  • Newer tiered video packages, Entertainment TV, Extra TV, and Everything TV reached 18% penetration of the residential video base at the end of Q2 2026, up from 10% in Q2 2025
  • Continued migration from legacy video packages to new tiered offerings improves retention and strengthens video margin profile
  • Video gross margin in Q2 2026 expanded by approximately 1,000 basis points in the last three years compared to Q2 2023
  • Residential video ARPU⁽⁶⁾ grew +1.4% year over year, partially offsetting video volume declines in revenue
• Expanding and Enhancing Our Networks
  • Added +68k total new passings in Q2 2026 and +223k total new passings in the last twelve months (LTM)
  • At the end of Q2 2026, approximately 97% of the total footprint had 1 Gig or higher speeds available
  • Demand for Lightpath's AI-grade infrastructure continues to be strong; Lightpath recently announced new fiber builds to support two hyperscale data center campuses, as well as a second infrastructure tenant on its Eastern Pennsylvania AI-grade fiber infrastructure build

Balance Sheet Review as of June 30, 2026

• Consolidated net debt⁽⁷⁾ for Optimum Communications was $25,333 million, representing consolidated net leverage of 8.0x L2QA⁽⁸⁾
  • The weighted average cost of debt for consolidated Optimum Communications was 6.8% and the weighted average life of debt was 2.8 years
• Net debt⁽⁷⁾ for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was $21,775 million, representing net leverage of 22.8x L2QA⁽⁸⁾
  • The weighted average cost of debt for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was 6.6% and the weighted average life of debt was 2.7 years
• Consolidated net debt⁽⁷⁾ for Cablevision Litchfield, LLC and CSC Optimum Holdings, LLC (the "UnSub Group") was $2,317 million, representing consolidated net leverage of 1.2x L2QA⁽⁸⁾
  • The weighted average cost of debt for the UnSub Group was 9.0% and the weighted average life of debt was 2.4 years
• Consolidated net debt⁽⁷⁾ for Lightpath was $1,570 million, representing net leverage of 5.5x L2QA⁽⁸⁾
  • The weighted average cost of debt for Lightpath Consolidated was 5.6% and the weighted average life of debt was 4.7 years

Shares Outstanding

• As of June 30, 2026, Optimum Communications had 392,560,390 combined shares of Class A and Class B common stock outstanding.

Private Placement of Preferred Units

• On May 29, 2026, CSC Investments II LLC (“CSC II”), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Optimum Communications, Inc. completed a private placement of newly issued Series A Preferred Units to certain institutional accredited investors for an aggregate purchase price of $300 million.
  
  The proceeds from the private placement were used for general corporate purposes, including financing a tender offer and paying related transaction expenses. The Preferred Units are perpetual preferred interests in CSC II, with quarterly dividends payable in cash or by compounding, at CSC II’s option. Dividends accrue at 13.0% per year if paid in cash or 15.0% per year if compounded, and the rate may increase by 2.0% per year during certain triggering events. The Preferred Units may be redeemed by CSC II at any time, subject to the applicable redemption price, and are subject to mandatory redemption upon certain events involving CSC II and its subsidiaries.

Private Exchange Transaction

• In a private exchange transaction completed on May 29, 2026, CSC II issued additional Preferred Units with an aggregate initial stated value of $212.5 million to Next Partner, L.P. and certain members of Optimum’s board of directors and executive management in exchange for shares of Optimum Class A and Class B common stock. Such exchanged common shares were not canceled.

Cash Tender Offer

• In July 2026, CSC II completed its tender offer to purchase shares of Class A common stock of Optimum Communications, Inc. from unaffiliated stockholders at a purchase price of $2.50 per share. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the tender offer, CSC II accepted for purchase 120 million shares for an aggregate purchase price of $300 million, excluding fees and expenses related to the tender offer. Such purchased common shares were not canceled.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We define Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net income (loss) excluding income taxes, non-operating income or expenses, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt and write-off of deferred financing costs, gain (loss) on interest rate swap contracts, gain (loss) on derivative contracts, gain (loss) on investments and sale of affiliate interests, interest expense, net, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, restructuring, impairments and other operating items (such as significant legal settlements and contractual payments for terminated employees). We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of our business and from intangible assets recognized from acquisitions, as well as certain non-cash and other operating items that affect the period-to-period comparability of our operating performance. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is unaffected by our capital and tax structures and by our investment activities.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is an appropriate measure for evaluating our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures with similar titles are common performance measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry. Internally, we use revenue and Adjusted EBITDA measures as important indicators of our business performance and evaluate management’s effectiveness with specific reference to these indicators. We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides management and investors a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business and operating results by excluding items that are not comparable across reporting periods or that do not otherwise relate to our ongoing operating results. Adjusted EBITDA should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of performance presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Since Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, this measure may not be comparable to similar measures with similar titles used by other companies.

We also use Free Cash Flow (defined as net cash flows from operating activities less cash capital expenditures) as a liquidity measure. We believe this measure is useful to investors in evaluating our ability to service our debt and make continuing investments with internally generated funds, although it may not be directly comparable to similar measures reported by other companies.

Certain numerical information is presented on a rounded basis. Minor differences in totals and percentage calculations may exist due to rounding.

About Optimum Communications

Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE: OPTU) is one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.2 million residential and business customers across 21 states through its Optimum brand. We operate Optimum Media, an advanced advertising and data business, which provides audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions to local, regional and national businesses and advertising clients. We also operate News 12, which is focused on delivering best-in-class hyperlocal news content.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this earnings release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, all statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this earnings release regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our future financial condition, liquidity, capital structure and results of operations; our strategy, objectives, prospects and trends, including driving margin expansion, improving broadband trends (including simplifying products and services and pricing and improving convergence and value-added product sell-in), maintaining financial discipline (including base management, , cost optimization and our AI and automation capabilities) and investing for long-term value creation (including fiber expansion, network upgrades and investments); our capital structure, including our ability to address upcoming maturities, refinancing activities, deleveraging initiatives and transformation plans; our subscriber trends (including broadband, mobile, video and fiber, churn, customer growth, retention, and penetration) and competitive dynamics; our go-to-market strategies and pricing and rate management strategies and the anticipated benefits thereof; our expectations regarding future financial performance, including revenue, ARPU, Adjusted EBITDA, cash capital expenditures and passings additions; network enhancements (including fiber expansion, HFC network upgrades, multi-gig speeds and related growth opportunities); and future developments in the markets in which we participate or are seeking to participate. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including without limitation the terms “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “intend”, “may”, “opportunity”, “plan”, “project”, “should”, “target”, “outlook”, or “will” or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. Where, in any forward-looking statement, we express an expectation or belief as to future results or events, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that the expectation or belief will result or be achieved or accomplished. To the extent that statements in this earnings release are not recitations of historical fact, such statements constitute forward-looking statements, which, by definition, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements including risks referred to in our SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. You are cautioned to not place undue reliance on Optimum Communications’ forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Optimum Communications specifically disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, as of any future date.

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