Comcast Q2 up 11%
July 23, 2015
Comcast, the largest cable operator in the US, saw its high-speed Internet and NBC Universal businesses grow in Q2 amid a drop in pay-TV subscriber departures.
Comcast reported total revenue rose 11.3 per cent to $18.74 billion (€17.01bn) in the second quarter ended June 30th. Net income attributable to Comcast rose 7.3 per cent to $2.14 billion from a year earlier. Profit was up 10 per cent from a year ago.
The company, which lost 8,000 video customers last quarter, reigned in subscriber losses in the second quarter compared to a year ago. It said 69,000 subscribers departed from April through June, but it was less than the 144,000 users who left a year earlier.
Earlier this month, Comcast said it is beta testing a new cable streaming service, branded Stream, which will broadcast live TV from HBO and other networks for $15 per month. The new service lets Comcast’s Xfinity Internet customers stream live TV over phones, tablets and laptops.
Comcast’s high-speed Internet customer additions dropped 12 per cent to 180,000, but revenue from the business rose around 10 per cent to $3.1 billion.
At NBC Universal, revenue rose 20.2 per cent to $7.23 billion from a year earlier. Revenue at the film studio rose 93 per cent from a year earlier to $2.3 billion, lifted by its summer blockbusters including Jurassic World.
Advertising revenue at cable networks fell 3 per cent in the quarter to $917 million. The NBC broadcast network’s ad revenue rose 0.3 per cent to $1.25 billion.