Comcast Reports Q3 Loss

In the absence of the Olympics and the Super Bowl, video customer losses and an impairment charge from its Sky business, Comcast Corporation reported a Q3 net loss of $4.6 billion on revenues of $29.8 billion, a slight year-on-year decline, with an adjusted net income of $4.2 billion, a 4.5 percent gain.

“I’m proud of the company and our strong financial results this quarter,” said Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts. “We delivered solid growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS, generated significant free cash flow, invested in our businesses’ future and returned a record amount of capital to our shareholders. This performance is a testament to our consistent strategic focus on innovation and our team’s ability to execute at the highest level in any environment. In Cable, we grew adjusted EBITDA by more than 5 percent and achieved our highest adjusted EBITDA margin on record despite a challenging competitive environment. At NBCUniversal, robust demand from guests at our theme parks and from viewers of our iconic content fueled nearly 25 percent growth in adjusted EBITDA. And, at Sky, our team continues to prudently manage through a difficult and rapidly changing macroeconomic and geopolitical period in the U.K. and Europe. Together, our company is a leader in very large and profitable markets. Despite the challenges that may lie ahead, we are in an enviable strategic and financial position, and our future remains bright.”

NBCUniversal’s total revenues in Q3 were down 4.3 percent to $9.6 billion, with the prior year including $1.8 billion from the company’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics. Media revenues were down 22.7 percent to $5.2 billion, but were up 4.4 percent excluding the Olympics and the Super Bowl. Studios revenue increased 31.4 percent to $3.2 billion, primarily reflecting higher theatrical and content licensing revenue. Theme parks revenue increased 42.4 percent to $2.1 billion.

Sky revenues were down 14.7 percent to $4.3 billion, but flat excluding the impact of currency. Direct-to-consumer revenues were $3.5 billion, with U.K. gains offsetting decreases in Italy and Germany. Content revenues were up 6.4 percent on a constant currency basis to $273 million. Ad revenues slipped to $471 million. Total customer relationships increased by 320,000 to 23 million in the third quarter of 2022, driven by streaming customer net additions.

At the Comcast Cable segment, revenues were up 2.6 percent to $16.5 billion, lifted by the broadband, wireless, business services and advertising segments. Video revenues were down 4.4 percent at the cable giant to $5.25 billion, with a video customer net loss of 561,000. Total customer relationships were down 21,000 to 34.4 million.