Comcast Q4 Profit Falls

PHILADELPHIA: Fourth-quarter profit at Comcast Corporation dropped almost 32 percent to $412 million, largely as a result of a $600 million pretax impairment charge on its Clearwire investment in 2008.

Revenues in the period gained 9 percent to $8.8 billion, with operating income up 20 percent to $1.8 billion. In the year, meanwhile, revenues were up 11 percent to $34.3 billion, operating income increased by 21 percent to $6.7 billion, and net income was stable at $2.5 billion.

Announcing the results, Brian Roberts, the chairman and CEO of the company, noted: "Despite a very difficult economic environment, we met or exceeded all of our financial targets, demonstrating the strength of our subscription businesses. We also made progress in our key strategic initiatives, including improving the customer experience, deploying wideband in approximately 25 percent of our footprint, and beginning the process of going ‘All-Digital’. For 2009, our goals is to continue to deliver growth even in this challenging environment and we remain focused on Free Cash Flow generation…We will also continue to invest to support long-term growth and extend our competitive advantage while strengthening our financial profile. We believe this approach and our focus on improving the customer experience will continue to drive shareholder value."

At Comcast Cable, revenues were up 8 percent to $32.4 billion in the year, and 7 percent in the quarter to $8.3 billion. The company ended 2008 with 45.6 million customers across its video, high-speed Internet and telephony services. There was a 2-percent reduction in video customers to 24.2 million, a 10-percent gain in Internet customers to 14.9 million and a 45-percent gain in users of Comcast Digital Voice to 4.4 million. 

In the Programming segment, meanwhile, encompassing E!, The Style Network, Golf Channel, VERSUS and G4, revenues increased by 9 percent to $1.4 billion for 2008. For the quarter, revenues were stable at $350 million.