Cable giant Comcast on Wednesday reported its fourth-quarter financials, including a higher profit at its entertainment arm NBCUniversal. The company also said its film unit had a record profit for the full year 2017. (THR)
The biggest U.S. cable operator said it lost around 33,000 customers over the three-month period, compared to a gain of 80,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016, but still saw a 3.4 percent rise in its cable business thanks to 350,000 new high-speed internet customers—although that figure was down from 385,000 over the same period in 2016. (TheStreet)
Advertising revenue plunged 12.4 percent to $629 million in the absence of political dollars that flowed in the fourth quarter of 2016. Programming expenses climbed 10 percent. At NBCUniversal, revenue for the quarter climbed 3.9 percent to $8.8 billion while earnings were up 6.4 percent to $1.9 billion. The cable networks segment saw revenue grow 7.5 percent to $2.7 billion while adjusted earnings spiked 9 percent to $1 billion. (Variety)
While Comcast has factored significantly into media M&A talks, pursuing 21st Century Fox assets that ended up with Disney last December, chairman and CEO Brian Roberts emphasized, “There’s nothing we feel we have to acquire.” (Deadline)