It's a good day in the cable neighborhood; at least for Cablevision, which reportedly has a first quarter profit that tripled from the same period last year.

The company reported a net income of $98.9 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a profit of $30.9 million, or 10 cents a share, year-over-year.

In addition, revenue rose to $1.84 billion from $1.75 billion. Specifically, cable television revenue rose 4.5 percent over the third quarter of 2008, to $1.3 billion. Customers generating revenue rose by 2.9 percent from the same quarter last year.

According to TMC's CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert), a major differentiator in Cablevisions attractive services and, thus, elevated customer base is the company's decision to roll out its Optimum WiFi (News - Alert) service for free in metropolitan areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, for current Cablevision subscribers.

"The service has come in handy for me in many instances and ensures customer loyalty. Researchers believe this subsidized offering is the reason Cablevision has had more than 70 percent sequential growth in net subscriber additions in the fourth quarter of 2008...a rate higher than any other cable operator in North America," Tehrani said in a recent blog post.

Analysts were expecting a profit of 26 cents a share on sales of $1.82 billion, according to a poll taken by Thomson (News - Alert) Reuters.

Coincidentally, Tehrani added, that AT&T's recent purchase of Wayport hints at the necessity Cablevision competitors feel the WiFi space is affecting and influencing consumers.