Comcast’s latest earnings underline how the company’s business mix is changing as pressure builds on its traditional cable operations.
While the group beat expectations on earnings in the fourth quarter, a small revenue miss and continued broadband customer losses highlighted the competitive strain facing US cable providers.
At the same time, steady growth in mobile, improving streaming numbers, and strong theme park performance offered signs that Comcast’s diversification strategy is starting to take hold, even as legacy businesses remain under stress.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Comcast reported adjusted earnings per share of 84 cents, ahead of the 75 cents expected by analysts, according to LSEG data.
Revenue came in at $32.31 billion, just below expectations of $32.35 billion.
Net income attributable to Comcast fell sharply to $2.17 billion, down 54.6% from a year earlier, reflecting weaker comparisons and the impact of one-time items.
Broadband under strain
The results again drew attention to the challenges in Comcast’s core broadband business.
The company lost 181,000 domestic broadband customers during the quarter, continuing a pattern seen across much of the cable industry.
Comcast said international subscriber growth helped offset those losses, but the domestic market remained difficult.
Revenue from the connectivity and platforms segment, which includes Xfinity broadband, pay TV, and mobile services, declined 1% to $20.24 billion.
Domestic broadband revenue also slipped 1% to around $6.32 billion. Comcast said higher average rates partly cushioned the decline, but not enough to prevent an overall drop.
Competition from wireless providers continues to weigh on broadband growth.
Fixed wireless offerings from rivals such as Verizon and T-Mobile have expanded rapidly, giving consumers alternatives to traditional cable connections and increasing pressure on pricing and customer retention.
Mobile growth accelerates
While broadband struggled, Comcast’s mobile business delivered another strong quarter.
The company added 364,000 mobile lines during the period, bringing its total mobile customer base to more than 9.3 million.
Mobile has become a central pillar of Comcast’s strategy as it looks to counter slowing growth in fixed-line services.
The momentum in mobile helped balance losses elsewhere. Comcast shed 245,000 pay TV customers during the quarter, reducing its total pay TV base to 11.27 million.
The decline reflected ongoing cord-cutting trends, as households continue to move away from traditional television packages in favour of streaming and flexible bundles.
Media transition takes shape
Comcast’s media segment posted firmer growth during the quarter.
Revenue from the media unit rose 5.5% to $7.62 billion, supported by advertising gains and streaming revenue.
The quarter marked the final reporting period in which NBCUniversal included its full portfolio of cable networks.
Comcast recently spun out most of its pay TV networks, including CNBC and MS Now, into the publicly traded entity Versant.
As a result, future earnings reports will reflect a leaner media structure focused more heavily on streaming, film, and theme parks.
Domestic advertising revenue within the media unit increased 1.5%, helped by the addition of the NBA on NBC, which supported overall advertising demand during the quarter.
Streaming and parks offset studio weakness
Streaming showed renewed momentum after a period of stagnation. Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers, ending the year with 44 million users.
Revenue at Peacock rose to $1.6 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier, though losses widened to $552 million.
Comcast said the higher losses were partly linked to the start of its NBA rights deal during the quarter.
Elsewhere, performance across Comcast’s entertainment assets was mixed.
Universal film studio revenue fell 7.4% to $3.03 billion, reflecting lower licensing and theatrical revenue compared with the prior year.
Recent releases did not match the strength of last year’s slate, weighing on results.
In contrast, Universal theme parks delivered strong growth. Theme park revenue rose 22% to roughly $2.9 billion, driven by the opening of Epic Universe last year.
The sharp increase reinforced the role of parks as a key growth engine within Comcast’s broader portfolio.
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