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Comcast Adds Internet Customers; Box Office Pumps Up Revenue

Comcast Adds Internet Customers; Box Office Pumps Up Revenue

By Associated Press | Updated: 23 July 2015 18:20 IST

Despite a slowdown in subscriber growth, the Internet is still propelling Comcast.

The country's largest cable company added 180,000 Internet customers in the April-June quarter, the smallest gain in at least two years. That brings its total Internet subscribers to 22.6 million.

Comcast's Internet customers surpassed its cable customers in the second quarter, and the company finished June down 69,000 TV customers, to 22.3 million.

Fears about a larger Comcast's dominance of the high-speed Internet market led to the downfall in April of its deal to acquire Time Warner Cable.

Regulators worried Comcast could undermine online video competitors by controlling how they reached many customers.

Comcast this month announced an Internet video service of its own - Stream - that will include broadcast channels and HBO for $15 a month. It's only for its own Internet customers.

The company is launching Stream as online TV options that don't require a cable subscription proliferate, while cable and satellite TV subscribers start to slip. Channels like Lifetime, Showtime, CBS and HBO have launched online video services. Dish Network's Sling TV gives you a "skinny bundle" of about 20 channels for $20 a month. Verizon is working on a mobile TV service that's expected to launch this summer.

These come amid growing consolidation in traditional TV companies. Regulators are expected to soon approve AT&T's purchase of satellite TV provider DirecTV, while Charter Communications wants to buy Time Warner Cable and a smaller cable operator called Bright House Networks.

Comcast's Internet revenue rose 10 percent to $3.1 billion (roughly Rs. 19,740 crores) in the second quarter, thanks to new customers and subscribers upgrading to higher speeds.

Video revenue rose 3.7 percent to $5.43 billion (roughly Rs. 34,577 crores), even as subscribers declined, helped by add-ons like signing up for another set-top box.

Comcast also owns NBCUniversal, and revenue in that division rose 20 percent, to $7.23 billion (roughly Rs. 46,040 crores), because of box office hits like "Jurassic World" and "Pitch Perfect 2." Filmed entertainment revenue nearly doubled, to $2.27 billion (roughly Rs. 14,455 crores). Revenue dipped 1 percent for the company's cable networks, which include CNBC, Bravo, USA Network and E! Entertainment, and was flat for its broadcast networks, NBC and Telemundo.

In the quarter, the Philadelphia company's profit rose 7.3 percent to $2.14 billion (roughly Rs. 13,627 crores), or 84 cents per share. Revenue rose 11.3 percent to $18.74 billion (roughly Rs. 1,19,334 crores).

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