• by Wayne Friedman , October 31, 2024

Comcast Corp. is looking to spin off its NBCUniversal national cable TV networks into a separate company.

“We are now exploring whether creating a new, well-capitalized company owned by our shareholders and comprised of our strong portfolio of cable networks would position them to take advantage of opportunities in the media landscape and create value for our shareholders,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corp., speaking with analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings phone call.

He added: “We are not ready to talk about any specifics yet, but we’ll be back to you as and when we reach firm conclusions.”

Craig Moffett, media analyst at MoffettNathanson Research, said the news is a “very welcome development," adding that investors have wanted "exactly this, or at least something close to it, for years.”

All U.S. cable TV networks have been hit by massive cord-cutting over the last decade, with resulting declines in advertising and distribution revenues.

The news came during the company’s third-quarter earnings release, with the Paris Summer Olympics contributing to $1.9 billion in overall revenue.

NBCUniversal's third-quarter revenue -- advertising and distribution -- grew 37% to $8.2 billion.

Excluding the Paris Olympics, media revenue was up 5%. Distribution revenue was up 26% overall to $3.27 billion, with domestic advertising up 75% to $3.35 billion.

Taking out the $1.5 billion in advertising revenue from the Paris Olympics means NBCU advertising was flat, says Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall.

Going further -- excluding sharply higher political revenue -- Wieser says core advertising results were down by “mid-single digits.”

Peacock's revenue was up 82% to $1.5 billion -- of which $300 million came from the Paris Olympics.

Peacock also witnessed a 29% year-over-year increase in subscribers to 36 million and trimmed its adjusted cash-flow loss to $436 million from $545 million.

Wieser estimates ad revenue at Peacock was up 114% overall when including the Olympics. A year ago, Peacock's Q3 ad revenue was at $355 million -- up 40% versus the same period in 2022.

Over a 17-day period, the Paris Olympics posted 180 billion minutes that was watched -- the highest total in Olympics TV history for a U.S. media company.