In 2026, media companies are navigating significant financial challenges. Comcast, for instance, gained an additional $2.2 billion from NBC’s broadcasts of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina and the Super Bowl in February. Despite this, the company reported a 35.6% decline in profits, attributing the drop to investments in essential cable and broadband upgrades and rising costs for sports rights and production.
Comcast, based in Philadelphia and the parent company of NBCUniversal, experienced a nearly 36% decrease in net income, falling to $2.17 billion, or 60 cents per share, from $3.38 billion, or 89 cents per share, in the corresponding period of the previous year. When adjusted for one-time items, earnings per share reached 79 cents.
The company’s revenue rose by about 5% to $31.46 billion for the quarter.
Comcast reported a 4.4% increase in capital expenditures, totaling $2.4 billion, with $1.8 billion dedicated to its cable operations.
Improvements in Comcast’s cable operations were noted, as it reduced broadband customer losses to 65,000, compared to 183,000 in the same period last year. The company also prioritized broadband competition. During the quarter, Comcast added 435,000 new mobile lines, growing its mobile customer base to 9.7 million. Additionally, cable TV customer losses narrowed to 322,000 from 427,000 in the prior year.
Revenue from cable and other connectivity services decreased by 2% to $17.32 billion.
Comcast’s media division, NBCU, saw revenue increase by almost 61% to $7.28 billion, largely driven by the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and an NBA All-Star Game broadcast in February. Excluding the Olympics and Super Bowl, revenue increased by approximately 13%. Domestic advertising revenue surged 135% to $3.45 billion, and rose 4.7% to $1.54 billion when excluding the major sports events.
The film studio’s revenue grew 21% to $3.43 billion, while Universal theme parks revenue climbed 24% to $2.33 billion.
Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service, reported a 12% increase in subscribers, reaching 46 million, up 2 million from the end of 2025. Peacock’s revenue nearly doubled to $2.1 billion, although its quarterly loss also doubled to $432 million, compared to a $215 million loss in the previous year.
