NBCU Boosts Comcast Earnings

Gains at NBCUniversal helped drive a 5-percent increase in third-quarter revenues at Comcast Corporation, with net profit up 9.3 percent.

Overall revenues at Comcast Corporation for the third quarter were $22.1 billion and the company delivered a net profit of $2.9 billion.

NBCUniversal revenues grew by 8.1 percent in the period to $8.6 billion. This included cable network revenues of $2.9 billion, a 10.8-percent increase, and broadcast television revenues of $2.5 billion, a 15.4-percent increase, in part driven by Telemundo’s World Cup coverage. Filmed entertainment revenues were up 3.8 percent to $1.8 billion, while theme parks dipped slightly to $1.5 billion.

At Comcast Cable, meanwhile, overall revenues grew by 3.4 percent to $13.8 billion, driven in part by a 9.6-percent boost in its high-speed internet segment, as well as gains in business services and advertising, while video revenues fell by 2.9 percent, primarily reflecting a decrease in the number of residential video customers. The company had 21 million residential video customers at the end of Q3, down from 21.3 million in the year-ago period.

“This is an exciting and important time in Comcast’s history,” said Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts. “To highlight a few of the achievements in our businesses this quarter, Comcast Cable’s EBITDA growth was the fastest in six years, and customer relationship growth accelerated, driven by the best broadband net additions for a third quarter in ten years. At NBCUniversal, our TV businesses continued their strong performance. NBC finished the 52-week season ranked number one in total viewers for the first time in 16 years and number one in adults 18 to 49 for the fifth consecutive season, and is off to a great start in the new season. Our recently completed acquisition of Sky is transformative for our company, helping create a unique global leader in media, technology, television and broadband.”