D.C. Memo: Sen. Warren Concerned about Taxpayer Bailout of OpenAI
Massachusetts Democrat concerned AI industry is ‘falling back on the classic strategy of privatizing profits and socializing losses.’
BREAKING: Stunning news out of Charter — the company said Friday morning it added video subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2025. “Total video customers increased by 44,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to a decline of 123,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the improvement driven by new and simplified pricing and packaging launched in September 2024 and benefits from the inclusion of programmers’ streaming applications in Spectrum’s expanded basic packages,” the company said in a press release. Charter has 12.6 million total video customers. [On Thursday, Comcast reported losing 245,000 video subscribers in the fourth quarter.] Charter’s video gains seemed to validate CEO Chris Winfrey’s decision in September 2023 to require cable TV networks owned by media giants like Disney to provide their apps to Charter pay-TV subscribers for free. Charter’s video turnaround was a Policyband Top 10 prediction for 2026 as shown in this screenshot.
In other results, Charter said:
▪️Fourth quarter total Internet customers declined by 119,000, leaving the company with 29.7 million Internet customers;
▪️Fourth quarter total mobile lines increased by 428,000. As of December 31, 2025, Charter served 11.8 million mobile lines;
▪️Fourth quarter revenue of $13.6 billion was a decline of 2.3% year-over-year, driven by lower residential video and political advertising revenues. Residential connectivity revenue grew 2.3% year-over-year.
▪️Net income totaled $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter and $5 billion for the year.
BREAKING: Verizon Communications reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results Friday morning, posting 372,000 broadband net additions in the final quarter of the year. The company said Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) accounted for most of the gains, with 319,000 net additions in the fourth quarter, bringing its fixed wireless base to more than 5.7 million subscribers. Verizon had 261,000 FWA net adds in the third quarter of 2025. Verizon also reported 67,000 Fios Internet net additions in the quarter, its highest fourth-quarter total since 2020. With the acquisition of Frontier Communications, Verizon has about 16.3 million FWA and fiber broadband connections.
Headlines
▪️WSJ: Amazon Plowing $50 billion into OpenAI
▪️ISP Talkie Petitions FCC to Block Maryland County’s Permitting Demands
▪️Carr: No News on 39% Cap
▪️Connecticut Social Media Bill Would Put Parents in Control
▪️NCTA Wants to Protect Cybersecurity Defenses under SLTE Regs
▪️Person Says 10-Hour Verizon Wireless Outage Cost at Least $50,000
▪️Comcast’s Stock Popped after Reporting Down Broadband Quarter
OpenAI: Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for specifics on the company’s spending commitments and the circumstances under which it would seek taxpayer help to meet them, warning that aggressive expansion could set the stage for government support of private risk. In a Jan. 28 letter, the Massachusetts Democrat said OpenAI’s financial obligations appear to outpace its revenue, fueling public talk of an “AI bubble.” Warren cited media reports that OpenAI lost $13.5 billion in the first half of 2025 and was projected to lose another $11.5 billion in the third quarter. (More after paywall.)
