Comcast 3Q Earnings Drop Staggering 54%
Just as other cable operators have done, Comcast now blames a competitive environment and a weak economy for its earning results. The finger pointing is at the new telco IPTV video services from AT&T's U-Verse and Verizon's FiOS services.
"We're seeing increasing competition and a softer economy, and as a result a slightly slower growth rate," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said during an earnings call on Thursday.
That's not what investors wanted to hear. That news sent Comcast shares tumbling in mid-day trading, down 11% to $21.17. This came after Comcast announced a drop of a whopping 54% in earnings in its third-quarter results to $560 million.
Bad as the numbers were, those results were measured against some strong numbers a year ago--when the company added many cable systems in the wake of the Adelphia Communications acquisition, boosting Comcast earnings by nearly $700 million. Without that deal, Comcast earnings were up 2% to $560 million.
Even with that consideration, investors reacted to the weakness in Comcast's core businesses.
The growth in Comcast's newer and higher monthly fee business--digital video subscribers--was down 12%. It added 489,000 new customers, for a total of 14.7 million. Basic subscribers--those generally lower-paying customers--decreased by 65,000 to 24.1 million, versus a gain of 11,000 a year ago.
Better news came from Comcast's cable networks--E!, Style, Golf Channel, Versus and G4--which gained nearly 30% in revenue to $330 million because of a strong national TV advertising market, which has delivered double-digit price increases in programming.
Comcast said its local cable system advertising sales revenue increased 7% to $407 million. Most of that was the result of an additional week being included in the current quarter, which helped to offset declines in political advertising.
The company's quarterly revenue rose by 21% to $7.78 billion, from $6.43 billion a year ago.
Recent MediaDailyNews Articles
-
Consumers Tag Costco, Movado As Most Promising Brands June 18, 6:09 p.m.
Costco, Cisco and Movado are the three most financially promising pure-play, publicly traded brands in the ... -
'Voice' Sings To Consistent Beat June 18, 5:57 p.m.
One of the biggest shows on broadcast television finished its spring edition pretty close to where ... -
Motorola Hires Digitas For Global Media Account June 18, 5:43 p.m.
Google-owned Motorola has appointed Publicis Groupe’s Digitas to handle global media duties, according to sources. Those ... -
'Jimmy Kimmel,' Myspace Promote Musicians June 18, 2:56 p.m.
Select artists that appear on TV late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will get to perform an ... -
W+K Amsterdam's Heineken Ad Wins Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Creative June 18, 11:31 a.m.
A Heineken ad campaign from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, the brand’s first global campaign effort, has ... -
Millennials Split In Attitude, Teens Less Upbeat, But Resilient June 18, 10:56 a.m.
MTV says younger U.S. millennials are a bit more pessimistic than older millennials.New millennials ages 14 ... -
Scripps Launches TV Everywhere With TWC June 17, 6:01 p.m.
Scripps Networks has a TV Everywhere deal with Time Warner Cable, allowing viewers access to on-demand ... -
Cannes Lions, Gates Foundation Partner For Global Initiative June 17, 5:51 p.m.
It sounds like a cliché from a beauty pageant, where the contestants talk about the lofty ... -
After TV, Sports Fans Up Coverage On Mobile, Social Nets June 17, 4:27 p.m.
While TV remains the No. 1 platform for sports fans, the second-screen TVs of sports -- ... -
Public Trust In Newspapers Dips Again June 17, 2:19 p.m.
In addition to their well-publicized financial woes, newspapers have a credibility problem, as Americans’ confidence in ...
Be the first to comment on "Comcast 3Q Earnings Drop Staggering 54%"
Leave a Comment