Comcast lost 477,000 cable television subscribers in the second quarter of 2020 amid a decline in company-wide revenue caused by the pandemic. The net loss for clients consists of 427,000 residential television clients and 51,000 commercial television clients, Comcast’s earnings report said today. Customer losses are more than double the 224,000 net customer losses in the second quarter of last year.
Comcast’s second-quarter loss of subscribers followed a first-quarter loss of 409,000 TV customers, for a total of 886,000 video customers lost in the first six months of 2020. By contrast, Comcast lost 733,000 video customers in all 2019, an average of 183,000 per quarter.
While Comcast’s TV customer losses accelerated this year, they are still only half the customer losses reported by the owner of DirecTV AT&T. Comcast has shrunk to 20.4 million television customers, which is higher than any other cable or satellite television provider.
Cable and satellite TV subscriber numbers have declined across the industry for several years as people switch to streaming services that generally have lower prices, fewer hidden fees, and fewer onerous or no-contract contracts. Live sports are the main draw for many of the remaining cable customers, but there was less reason to pay cable companies for live sports when most major sports leagues were suspended. The resumption of live sports, albeit under precarious circumstances, should help cable companies a bit.
Income and income fall
Across the company, including NBCUniversal and other businesses, Comcast revenue was $ 23.7 billion in the quarter, a decrease of 11.7 percent year-over-year. Net income was $ 3.2 billion, down 12.2 percent. NBC’s universal theme park revenue declined dramatically for obvious reasons, dropping from $ 1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2019 to $ 87 million in the second quarter of 2020.
Comcast’s second quarter cable television revenue was $ 5.4 billion, 3.2 percent less than the prior year. The fall “reflects[s] a decrease in the number of residential video customers, partially offset by an increase in average rates, “Comcast said.
Broadband revenue was $ 5 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent year-over-year, as Comcast added another 323,000 Internet subscribers in the quarter. Comcast, the nation’s largest Internet provider, has 29.4 million broadband customers, of which 27.2 million are residential. Broadband revenues “reflect[s] an increase in the number of residential high-speed internet customers and an increase in average rates, “Comcast said.
Comcast said its reported net profit of 323,000 broadband customers excludes more than 600,000 low-income “high risk” customers who receive the free Internet Essentials service.
The cable division’s overall revenue (including Internet, video, home phone, wireless, and advertising) was $ 14.4 billion, just 0.2 percent year-over-year, and would have been higher had it not been for a fall 29.6 percent in advertising and Comcast revenue giving customers some breaks in billing due to COVID-19. That included Comcast after the FCC promise to “Keep Americans Connected” by waiving late fees and not disconnecting customers who couldn’t pay due to the pandemic.
Sports rate “adjustments”
Comcast said its cable revenue was reduced through “adjustments” to the Regional Sports Network (RSN) rates charged to subscribers due to canceled sports events. The average price each TV customer pays Comcast “would have been higher if it weren’t for the exempt rates due to COVID-19 and the impacts of the customer’s RSN rate adjustments,” the company said. Comcast’s average monthly revenue per cable customer was $ 150.17, down from $ 156.71 three months earlier, partially reflecting an increase in the number of “single-product customers,” such as those who buy broadband but don’t. TV or telephone service.
Comcast also had lower programming purchase costs due to sports cancellations. “Total operating expenses benefited from adjustments to the provisions in our schedule distribution agreements with RSN related to sporting events canceled as a result of COVID-19,” Comcast said. “Programming costs decreased 5.0 percent, primarily due to adjustment provisions.”
Comcast owns eight RSNs, so the rate adjustments also reduced Comcast’s cable network revenue. “Distribution revenue decreased 14.8 percent, reflecting accumulated credits in some of our RSNs as a result of the reduction in the number of games planned by professional sports leagues due to COVID-19 and a decrease in subscribers, partially offset by contractual rate increases, “Comcast said. Cable network revenue decreased 14.7 percent to $ 2.5 billion in the second quarter.
Comcast recently launched the NBC streaming service Peacock and said today that it has registered 10 million users so far.
