Regulatory, connectivity and produced content costs decreased due to timing of sports rights fees driven by delayed games due to COVID-19 and lower regulatory pass-through fees offset by higher original programming costs and costs of video devices sold to customers during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020.
Charter’s Adjusted OIBDA for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 increased for the reasons described above.
Depreciation and amortization expense decreased $72 million and $125 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in the prior year primarily due to a decrease in depreciation and amortization as certain assets acquired in acquisitions become fully depreciated offset by an increase in depreciation as a result of more recent capital expenditures.
Charter’s results were also impacted by other expenses, net which decreased $144 million and increased $173 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in the prior year. The decrease in other expenses, net for the three months ended June 30, 2020, as compared to the corresponding period in the prior year, was primarily due to increased gains on financial instruments, offset by increased interest expense and a loss on extinguishment of debt. The increase in other expenses, net for the six months ended June 30, 2020, as compared to the corresponding period in the prior year, was primarily due to increased losses on financial instruments, increased interest expense and a loss on extinguishment of debt, partially offset by a decrease to other expense.
Income tax expense increased $82 million and decreased $8 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in the prior year. Income tax expense increased during the three months ended June 30, 2020 compared to the corresponding period in 2019 primarily as a result of higher pretax income offset by increased recognition of excess tax benefits resulting from share-based compensation during 2020. Income tax expense decreased during the six months ended June 30, 2020 compared to the corresponding period in 2019 primarily as a result of increased recognition of excess tax benefits resulting from share-based compensation during 2020 and an internal entity simplification that increased expense in 2019 offset by higher pretax income in 2020.
Gain (loss) on dilution of investment in affiliate
The loss on dilution of investment in affiliate increased by $29.7 million and $47.6 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in the prior year, primarily due to an increase in issuance of Charter common stock from the exercise of stock options held by employees and other third parties, at prices below Liberty Broadband’s book basis per share. As Liberty Broadband’s ownership in Charter changes due to exercises of Charter stock options, a loss is recorded with the effective sale of common stock, because the exercise price of Charter stock options is typically lower than the book value of the Charter shares held by Liberty Broadband.
Other, net
Other, net decreased $0.4 million and $0.6 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in the prior year. The decrease was primarily due to decreases in dividend and interest income as a result of lower interest rates and lower cash balances in the current year.
Income tax benefit (expense)
During the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, we had an income tax expense of $25.0 million and $22.2 million, respectively, and the effective rate was approximately 25.7% and 25.6%. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, we had an income tax expense of $3.9 million and an income tax benefit of $0.7 million, respectively, and the effective tax rate was approximately 24.6% and 22.4%, respectively. The differences between the effective income tax rates and the U.S. Federal income tax rate of 21% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2019 were primarily due to the effect of state income taxes.