Comcast said its second quarter profit was boosted by the sale of its remaining stake in the Hulu streaming service to Disney and performance at its theme parks, even as the company contended with subscriber erosion at its flagship cable and broadband operations and a 7.2% decline in U.S. advertising revenue at NBCUniversal.
The Philadelphia cable and entertainment giant said net income in the second quarter totaled $11.12 billion, or $2.98 a share, compared with $3.93 billion, or $1 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusting for one-time items, including that Hulu sale, Comcast reported earnings of $1.25 per share.
Revenue rose 2% to $30.31 billion.
Revenue rose at its giant cable and connectivity operations, rising 1% to $20.39 billion. Still, Comcast said it lost 226,000 broadband accounts, most of them from residential customers, and 325,000 pay-TV customers. The company added 378,000 mobile customers during the period — a sign of its new reliance on this area as customers shed traditional connections and pivot to streaming video.
Revenue from NBCUniversal rose almost 2%, to $6.44 billion.
The company’s theme parks saw an 18.9% boost in revenue due in part to the opening of the new Epic Universe. Still, domestic advertising at the NBCU networks fell 7% to $1.85 billion. Comcast said subscribers to Peacock stayed at 41 million, flat with results in the first quarter of the year. Revenue from Peacock grew 18% to $1.2 billion, and the streamer narrowed its losses to $101 million, compared with losses of $348 million in the year earlier period.
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