Comcast's Mixed Q2: Higher Broadband Revenue, Declining Video

Comcast Corp. continues to see rising broadband revenues for its recent second-quarter reporting period versus stagnant cable system video and flat NBCUniversal revenue results.

Comcast pulled in 10% more revenue in high-speed broadband revenue to $4.6 billion, with virtually flat (down 0.6%) results in its cable TV video business to $5.6 billion.

Total video customers continue to drop -- as they have over the past several years. The company has lost 224,000 subscribers to total 21.6 million. At the same time, high-speed broadband customers grew 209,000 — now at 27.8 million. Voice customers were down 65,000 to 11.3 million.

Including its recent acquisition of Sky, Comcast posted strong 24% gains in revenue — $26.9 billion for the second quarter. Leaving out Sky, Comcast revenue was only up 1%.

Comcast had 3% lower net income to $3.2 billion, with its cash flow — adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — rising 17.5% to $8.7 million.

Comcast stock was up 0.2% to $44.97 in mid-day Thursday trading.

Advertising at Comcast local cable systems was down 9% to $607 million, due to lower political advertising revenue. Along with broadband, business services was another growth area — 10% more to $1.9 billion.

Overall, NBCUniversal revenue was virtually flat (down 0.8%) to $8.2 billion.

NBC cable networks were up 2.5% to $2.9 billion, as a result of high distribution revenue, increasing 3.4%. Advertising revenue was “consistent,” according to the company.

NBC broadcast TV grew slightly — up 0.5% to $2.4 billion. It had higher distribution revenue, up 14.7%.

Advertising was down 4.2% compared to a year before, when Telemundo aired the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Without that, ad revenue was higher by mid-single-digit percentages.

Theatrical and home video entertainment was down 15% to $1.5 billion in revenue — due to unfavorable comparisons vs. strong results a year ago from “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” The unit had strong performance this year from “The Secret Life of Pets 2.”

Theme parks grew 7.5% to $1.5 billion, due to higher guest spending and overall attendance.

Next story loading loading..