Hero Among Us: Cable Saves Comcast From Disastrous 1Q20

摘要

In a time when all of its businesses were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast NBCU’s cable segment was still able to report a record quarter with revenues of $14.9bln. The company reported 477K total high-speed internet net additions, not including 32K Internet Essentials customers taking advantage of Comcast’s offer of 60 days of complimentary service for new subscribers. High-speed internet revenue rose 9.3% thanks to the increase in residential subs and an increase in average rates. It also added 216K wireless lines, growing the Xfinity Mobile business to 2.3mln lines. There may be opportunities to negotiate more attractive MVNO agreements thanks to the merging of T-Mobile and Sprint, but Comcast is planning on sticking with its current Verizon MVNO. “We’re always going to be staring at ways to make improvements to it over time, but the fundamentals are very good,” Comcast Cable pres/CEO Dave Watson said. He offered no details on whether Comcast would participate in the CBRS spectrum auction coming later this year. The company is seeking a waiver from the FCC to possibly join the auction. It’s currently prevented from participating because of its stake in expected bidder Midco. Video subs fell by 409K, more than three times last year’s loss of 121K. But the average rates the remaining subs are paying has increased, and the increase in loss is expected given Comcast’s previous comments that it wouldn’t fight for subs with discounts any longer. Comcast is instead placing its bets on upcoming NBC AVOD Peacock. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Peacock is still on track to launch in July 15. The streamer, which is currently being rolled out to Flex and X1 users, is pacing ahead of internal forecasts on monthly active users and on time spent viewing. And though Comcast is very aware of the streaming opportunity that exists with everyone stuck at home, moving up the launch of Peacock is not on the table. The company wants to spend the next few months working out technical issues with Flex and X1 subs before going wide. “We’re in a marathon, not a sprint. We have an ad-supported service… we want to make sure the product is right before we launch in July,” NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said. Over at NBCU, revenues fell by 7% YOY to $7.7bln while adjusted EBITDA dropped 25.3% to $1.7bln. The story was similar at Sky, which recorded revenues of $4.5bln (-5.8%) for the first quarter. Still, Roberts is optimistic that Comcast will emerge on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than it has ever been. “In both good times and bad, I think of my father Ralph who 57 years ago built this company to be vibrant, relevant and attract the best talent to work for us while creating long-term value for shareholders,” Roberts said. “Ralph’s views are deep in my DNA and throughout all of Comcast.”