Comcast Corp.'s first-quarter profits jumped 14 percent with contributions from Europe's Sky. The Philadelphia company's cable division purred despite the migration of viewers to online streaming services.
The nation's largest cable-TV operator shed 121,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year, as its cable-TV base melts and streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and, soon, Disney grab those entertainment viewers. Comcast has been bleeding cable-TV subscribers for several quarters now _ during the same period last year, it lost 96,000 subscribers.
But Comcast added 375,000 broadband customers, a pacing which could lead to another 1 million new broadband subscribers in 2019, and 170,000 new Xfinity Mobile data customers. Even with the constant drain of legacy pay-television subscribers, Comcast's cable division boosted revenue 4.2 percent with with higher-margin broadband and business services.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that 2019 was off to a "terrific start."
First-quarter revenue _ on an adjusted, or pro forma, basis _ fell 3.3 to $26.9 billion, mostly because of the comparison with the year-ago quarter when Comcast-owned NBC was broadcasting the advertising-rich winter Olympics.
Net income attributable to Comcast shareholders rose 14 percent to $3.6 billion, or 77 cents a share.
NBCUniversal's first-quarter revenue fell 12.5 percent, again because of the comparison with the Olympics in the year-ago period. Excluding for the Olympics, NBC broadcast television rose 7.1 percent and cable networks revenue climbed 3.2 percent.
NBCUniversal theme park's have been a stellar business for Comcast, though first-quarter revenue declined 0.4 percent. Comcast invested heavily into new attractions at the California and Florida theme parks, with capital expenditures at NBCUniversal soaring 68 percent to $453 million for new Harry Potter and Jurassic attractions.
