Peacock Delivers 2nd Consecutive Quarterly Profit of $261 Million in Q3

Comcast posted revenue of $29.29 billion and an adjusted profit of $1.07 cents per share, compared to revenue of $29.22 billion and a profit of 99 cents per share expected by Wall Street analysts, per Yahoo Finance. The quarterly results come as the Brian Roberts-owned media conglomerate remains on track to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate, publicly traded company next year. Comcast shares were flat in pre-market trading on Thursday following the results NBCUniversal’s Peacock delivered its second consecutive quarterly profit of $261 million and revenue of $1.8 billion in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $217 million and revenue of $1.4 billion in the prior year period. The streamer also held steady a total of 48 million subscribers. But parent company Comcast’s adjusted profit slid 7.3% to $3.8 billion, or $1.07 per share, and revenue tumbled 6.1% to $29.3 million as the media conglomerate continued to be weighed down by declines in its broadband and video businesses. Those declines were offset by the impact of The World Cup and the box office performance of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Minions & Monsters.” Comcast’s content and experiences business, which includes NBCUniversal, Sky and its Universal theme parks, grew total revenue 6.5% to $10.54 billion, while profits climbed 29.3% to $1.8 billion. Meanwhile, the connectivity and platforms business saw revenue decline 2.6% to $19.7 billion and profits drop 4.4% to $7.6 billion as it shed 144,000 residential broadband and 274,000 video customers. Shares of Comcast were up 1.2% in pre-market trading on Thursday following the results. The World Cup boosted media revenue 13% to $5.4 billion, while profits came in at $769 million, compared to $247 million in the prior year period. That was driven by a 14.6% increase in advertising revenues and 22.4% bump in distribution revenues. Meanwhile, the studios business saw profits surge 18.6% to $402 million, but revenue fell 1.1% to $2.97 billion. Theatrical revenue surged 76.6%, driven by “The Odyssey” and “Minions & Monsters,” as well as a carryover benefit of “Obsession.” Universal also crossed $5 billion at the domestic box office during the quarter. But those gains were offset by a 23.7% drop in content licensing revenue due to the timing of TV content available during the quarter. Elsewhere, the theme parks business saw profits drop 17% to $780 million and revenue fall 4.4% to $2.6 billion due to lower revenue from park admissions and higher operating costs at its domestic theme parks. Comcast executives said that they remain confident in the theme park business’ long-term growth potential despite “near-term cyclical headwinds.” The latest quarterly results come as the Brian Roberts-owned media conglomerate’s plans to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate, publicly-traded company remain on track for next year. In addition to the planned spinoff from Comcast, Sky has entered into a $2.1 billion deal to acquire ITV’s media and entertainment business, which includes its linear channels and the ITVX streaming platform, as well as “The Great British Bake Off” producer Love Productions. ITV, which reaches around 40 million people each week and serves over 16.5 million monthly digital users, would account for around 20% of all in-home viewing in the U.K. when combined with Sky — second to the BBC and ahead of YouTube. U.K. Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy has said she’s “minded to intervene” in the deal and asked both companies to address her concerns by this past Tuesday. If she ends up issuing an intervention notice, the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom would review the deal and its impact on the public interest and competition. Under the terms of the deal, Sky News and ITV News will stay editorially distinct going forward. It also includes $1.6 billion in cash and up to $267 million in performance-related earn-out and $2.8 billion in content spend with ITV Studios, which will remain a separate entity, over the next five years. The deal is expected to generate $267 million in annual cost savings three years after its closing. More to come…