Comcast posts mixed quarter as broadband pressures weigh on business

Media

Comcast posts mixed quarter as broadband pressures weigh on business

Published Thu, Jan 29 2026

7:03 AM EST

thumbnailLillian Rizzo@LilliannnnWATCH LIVE

Key Points

  • Comcast topped analyst estimates on adjusted earnings when it reported its fourth-quarter financials on Thursday.
  • However the cable giant slightly missed Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly revenue.
  • Comcast’s broadband business continues to be under pressure due to the rise of competitors, particularly in the 5G space.

In this article

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UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - 2019/07/18: Comcast sign logo in the wall of a building at Universal Studios. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Roberto Machado Noa | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Comcast posted mixed results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, beating analyst expectations on earnings but slightly missing on revenue. 

Once again, Comcast's broadband business showed signs of significant competition among cable companies. Comcast said it lost 181,000 domestic broadband customers during the period, although said the losses were offset by an increase in international subscribers. 

The company's mobile offering remained a bright spot, notching 364,000 additions during the period and bringing its total to more than 9.3 million mobile customers for Comcast's newest business. 

Here's how Comcast performed in the period ended Dec. 31 compared with average analyst estimates, according to LSEG: 

  • Earnings per share: 84 cents adjusted vs. 75 cents expected
  • Revenue: $32.31 billion vs. $32.35 billion expected 

Net income attributable to Comcast decreased 54.6% to $2.17 billion, or 60 cents per share, compared with $4.78 billion, or $1.24 per share a year earlier. 

Adjusting for certain one-time items — like the value of intangible assets, charges associated with investments, and prior-year tax benefits that Comcast said made for an "unfavorable comparison" — the company reported adjusted net income of $3.06 billion, or 84 cents per share. 

Comcast's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was down 10% to $7.9 billion. 

The company's overall quarterly revenue was up more than 1% to $32.31 billion. 

Revenue for Comcast's connectivity and platforms unit – which includes its Xfinity-branded services across broadband, pay TV and mobile – was down 1% to $20.24 billion. 

In particular, revenue was down 1% for the domestic broadband unit to roughly $6.32 billion. While this reflected the decrease in broadband customers, it was partially offset by higher average rates, Comcast said. 

In addition to the broadband customer losses and mobile additions, Comcast lost 245,000 pay TV customers during the fourth quarter. The company now has 11.27 million total pay TV customers. 

Meanwhile, revenue for the company's media unit, which includes NBCUniversal, rose 5.5% to $7.62 billion. 

This marks the final quarter that NBCUniversal's earnings report includes its full portfolio of cable networks, as Comcast spun out most of its pay TV networks, including CNBC and MS Now, into the publicly traded entity, Versant. 

Domestic advertising revenue for the media business was up 1.5% due to the addition of the NBA on NBC, which helped propel overall revenue.  

NBC's streaming service, Peacock, added 3 million paid customers after three quarters of essentially no change. It ended the year with 44 million paid subscribers. The streaming service reported losses of $552 million for the fourth quarter, deeper than the $372 million in losses it recorded in the prior year period. Peacock saw $1.6 billion in revenue compared to $1.3 billion the year-ago quarter.

Comcast's Universal film studio revenue was down 7.4% to $3.03 billion due to a drop in licensing and theatrical revenue when compared with the prior-year quarter. The releases of "Wicked: For Good" and "Black Phone 2" fell short of last year's "Wicked" and "The Bad Robot."

Universal theme parks revenue, however, was up 22% to roughly $2.9 billion, driven by last year's opening of Epic Universe.

Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC. CNBC was a part of Comcast through the fourth quarter of 2025.

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