Comcast reported flat first-quarter earnings as it reduced the red ink at Peacock but continued to lose video and broadband customers.
The company said it cut its losses at Peacock to $639 million from $704 million a year ago.
Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers in the quarter, increasing its total to 34 million, which is up 55% from a year ago. Peacock got a boost from having an exclusive NFL playoff game during the quarter.
"We added and then retained more subscribers than we expected,” Comcast president Michael Cavanagh said during the company’s earnings call with analysts.
Revenue for Peacock was $1.1 billion, up 54% from a year ago.
Overall, Comcast said Q1 net income rose 0.6% to $3.9 billion, or 97 cents a share, from $3.8 billion, or 91 cents a share, a year ago.
The earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Revenue grew 1.2% to $30.1 billion.
At NBCUniversal, which Comcast calls its content and experiences division, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, fell 7.1% to $1.5 billion.
Revenues were up 1.1% to $10.4 billion.
EBITDA for the company’s media business was down 6.1% to $827 million as revenue rose 3.6%. The company said expenses were up because of higher programming costs at Peacock.
Domestic advertising revenues were flat at $2 billion, while domestic distribution revenue increased 7.2% to $2.9 billion.
The company’s studio business saw earnings fall 12.2% to $244 million as revenue slid 7.2% to $2.7 billion.
Comcast’s cable business — called connectivity and platforms — increased EBITDA by 1.5% to $8.2 billion. Revenue declined 0.1% to $20.3 billion.
Comcast lost 65,000 domestic broadband customers, leaving it with 32.2 million residential and business customers.
Revenues from domestic residential broadband were up 3.9% from a year ago to $6.6 billion.
Domestic video customers were down by 487,000, leaving 13.6 million remaining for the former top U.S. cable operator. Residential video revenues dropped 7.7% to $6.9 billion.
Advertising revenue was up 3.5% to $951 million.
“Our team is continuing to execute exceptionally well in a dynamic and competitive marketplace,” chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. “Overall, I am proud of our ability to consistently perform at the highest levels and continue to position the company for long-term growth.”
