Comcast’s Revenue Drops Without Olympics

Comcast is feeling the post-Olympic blues.

The media conglomerate reported a 1.5% year-over-year decline in third-quarter revenue to $29.8 billion and a net loss of $4.6 billion, compared to $4 billion in net income the year prior. Comcast added 14,000 broadband subscribers.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal was awarded the U.S. media rights for the Olympic Games from 2021 through 2032 at a $7.65 billion price tag. The first Games under that deal were the Tokyo Olympics in the third quarter of FY2021.

• NBCUniversal’s Q3 revenue fell 4.3% year-over-year to $9.6 billion, with its media segment dropping 22.7% to $5.2 billion — excluding the Olympics and the Super Bowl, it increased 4.4%.
• Advertising revenue declined 35.1%, primarily due to the Olympics.

The company also said goodbye to its Olympic Channel at the end of the quarter, not long after shutting down its sports network at the end of last year.

Paid subscribers for Comcast’s streaming service Peacock, which posted a loss of $614 million, surpassed 15 million — a nearly 70% increase year to date.

Sky’s Show

Comcast posted an $8.6 billion write-down on its pay-TV operations for Sky, the European media and entertainment company Comcast acquired in 2018 for $39 billion. 

The segment, which renewed its broadcasting deals for the Masters Tournament and PGA Tour in the U.K. and Ireland in Q2, posted a 14.7% year-over-year decrease in third-quarter revenue to $4.3 billion, but added 320,000 customers. 

SkyShowtime, the joint venture with Paramount Global, launched in September.