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Comcast Sees Q2 Profit Rise on Broadband Sales, NBCU Rebound

Brian Steinberg
·2 min read

Comcast said second-quarter profit rose 25% due to soaring sales of broadband services and a rebound in business at NBCUniversal, where advertising, movie operations and theme parks all improved as the nation works to move out of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Philadelphia cable-and-entertainment giant said second-quarter net income came to $3.74 billion, or 80 cents a share, compared with $2.99 billion, or 65 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

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Overall revenue in the second quarter rose 20.4% to $28.5 billion. Revenue from its cable operations rose 10.9% to $16 billion, while revenue at NBCUniversal rose 39.2%, to $8 billion. Revenue from its Sky satellite operations in Europe rose 14.9% to $5.22 billion.

The company released its second-quarter results in a period when more of the focus in the media industry is being placed on streaming operations. Comcast did not detail progress for Peacock, NBCU’s streaming video outlet that has both free and subscription tiers and is being utilized as part of NBCU’s broadcast of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

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Comcast said it saw its total customer subscriptions rise by 294,000 to 33.8 million in the second quarter, fueled by the addition of 354,000 broadband customers. The company lost 399,.000 video subscribers and108,000 voice customers.

NBCUniversal, meanwhile, saw improved performance across its portfolio, a good part of which had been affected by the pandemic last year. Advertising revenue rose 32.8%, thanks to an increase in the number of live sports broadcasts NBCU could put on and new activity from clients who had previously pulled back on spending. Film revenue rose 8.4% as more theaters opened. And theme parks revenue increased by $958 million as more of the company’s operations opened for customers.

Sky operations picked up thanks to an increase in live sports events. During the pandemic, Sky customers didn’t have to pay as much due to cancelled sports events.

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