Comcast Gets Q3 Olympics Boost, Adds 3M Peacock Subs Amid Challenges in Broadband, Theme Parks

Comcast found a way to get it past its usual challenges of consumers leaving its cable offerings and getting people to visit its theme parks: the Olympics.

This summer’s extravaganza from Paris helped the cable-and-entertainment conglomerate power its way past some of its business issues, with overall revenue up 6.5% to $32.07 billion compared to $30.1 billion in the year-earlier. The company said it saw a shot in the arm of $1.9 billion in revenue from the Olympics in the form of advertising cash and new subscriptions to its Peacock streaming service, even as it an exodus of broadband and video consumers from its large connection-services operations. Comcast has agreed to pay $7.75 billion for NBC and its affiliated properties to have broadcast rights to the Olympic Games between 2021 and 2032.

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Even so, the Philadelphia owner of Xfinity web and cable services said it lost lost 87,000 broadband customers in the quarter, citing the end of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, which subsidized internet access for low-income households in the U.S. Excluding the impact of that program, Comcast said it added 9,000 broadband customers.

Profit was off 10% for the period, falling to $3.63 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared with $4.05 billion, or 98 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

The company said total customer relationships in its connectivity business fell 29,000 to 51.7 million, with 87,000 broadband customers exiting.

At the Peacock streaming service, however, there was a different story to tell, with paid subscribers increasing 29% year-over-year, and revenue up 82% to $1.5 billion. Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers in the third quarter, to reach 36 million total. The company reported an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss of $436 million related to Peacock compared with a loss of $565 million in the prior-year period.

Comcast also grappled with headwinds at its theme parks, which saw a decline of 5.3% in revenue as the company said customers opted to put their travel dollars into overseas trips as well as cruises.