Its shares jumped 24.43% to 72.75p, up from its close last night of 58p, as the market reacted warmly to a better-than-expected performance.
Telewest said the all-important churn figure had fallen to 18.7% from 28.3% a year earlier and average revenue per household grew to £40.29 a month.
Third-quarter earnings were also better than expected. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were £83m against £60.9m last time. Analysts' forecasts had ranged between £75m and £80.1m.
For the nine months to September 30, losses widened to £597m against £475m last time. The company blamed an increase in depreciation and goodwill due to the group's increased size, including the goodwill charge related to its purchase of content provider Flextech.
Turnover for the year to date rose 20% to £973m and ebitda was £213m, up from £182m a year earlier.
Chief executive Adam Singer is understood to be backing plans by the BBC and other terrestrial broadcasters to form a digital platform, which would carry 20 free-to-air channels as an alternative to pay-TV services.
According to Singer, Telewest is in favour of the planned platform, to which Telewest could supply some channels through its Flextech division, because it is not a pay-TV platform. "It is essentially a free-to-air supplier and we think that works fine," he said.
Singer added that the platform would be a concern for Telewest if the group was solely a multichannel TV provider, but he said the company was strengthened by its ability to offer telecoms and internet services alongside digital TV.
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