Time Warner Cable profit beats as demand for data services rises

(Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, reported first-quarter profit above analysts' estimates as it added more residential subscribers than expected for its high-speed data services.

The company said it added 269,000 residential high-speed data subscribers on a net basis - highest since the first quarter of 2012. Analysts had expected the company to add 179,300 subscribers, according to StreetAccount.

The company, which is in the middle of a $45.2 billion (26.9 billion pounds) acquisition by Comcast Corp, lost 34,000 residential video subscribers in the first quarter on a net basis, fewer than the 77,300 analysts had expected.

Time Warner Cable's quarterly profit jumped 19.5 percent to $479 million, or $1.70 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31.

Excluding items, earnings were $1.78 per share, topping the analyst estimate of $1.68 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $5.58 billion. Analysts were expecting $5.64 billion.

Time Warner Cable's shares closed at $139.87 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Aurindom Mukherjee & Soham Chatterjee; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)