Charter CEO Tom Rutledge says Netflix’s effort to restrict password sharing is “a point we’ve been trying to make for years”

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge says Netflix’s recently announced plan to restrict password sharing is “an issue we’ve been trying to iron out for years.”

Asked by an analyst if he meant “I told you so” during a phone call about the company’s first quarter earnings, he replied, “Yes, I told you.” Indeed, the Charter is known for its strong stance on this issue.

Netflix recently launched testing outside of the US in three markets for a paid system that allows password sharing but at a price. The effort could help restore lost subscription revenue to the nearly 100 million households watching Netflix on someone else’s behalf.

“We knew it was a problem,” Rutledge said. “This isn’t just a problem for a company that doesn’t check its passwords. This is a problem for everyone in the industry because all content that is used in the industry without paying anyone affects the supply and demand for all content and not just the provider selling the content, thereby reducing the value of the content for all. This is what we have been trying to do for years.

The CEO’s comments followed Charter’s first quarter results report. According to Wall Street estimates, the second largest US cable operator posted earnings per share of $ 7.05. Revenue increased 5% year-over-year to $ 13.2 billion, in line with analysts’ forecasts.

The letter lost 123,000 residential video customers in the quarter and ended with 15.1 million.

Rutledge was asked about the company’s announcement this week about a joint venture with Comcast. The companies are joined in a 50-50 streaming initiative based on Comcast’s Flex system, which enables streaming via TV and connected devices.

The streaming setup, which will compete with Roku, Amazon Fire and others, is based on Internet Protocol, or IP, as opposed to the more traditional spectrum technology found in traditional set-top boxes. When asked if he thinks Flex will become Charter’s dominant video hub in the next few years, Ratledge said, “The answer is yes. I hope that gradually most of our customer base will be IP. This spectrum will be captured over time and there are several ways to compress this spectrum when purchasing your IP space. “

The restored spectrum can be used to “increase bandwidth speed and / or required bandwidth capacity through the use of common data,” he added.