Comcast’s Customers Are Dropping Like Flies, Just Like Verizon’s

It’s the time of year when Q1 earnings reports are starting to trickle in, and much like Verizon’s recent report that showcased significant subscriber losses, Comcast is also feeling the pinch, with a report detailing customer losses across paid TV and broadband (via Bloomberg). Worse, these losses exceed analysts’ estimates, which means Wall Street is likely none too happy, as the company’s revenue is down. Heck, even the theme parks division’s earnings fell thanks to California’s wildfires. While it’s not all bad news, Comcast’s Peacock service saw some growth, it’s still not a profitable service after five years. Ouch.

Trends like cutting the cord and ditching broadband for cellular/satellite are growing

Dinosaurs tend to go extinct; something needs to change

Source: Comcast

Cutting the cable television cord has been a trend ever since Netflix started offering streamed online content all the way back in 2007. Consumers were no longer beholden to cable providers to get their movie and TV show fix, and this trend is still growing with no expectation of it stopping. So when Comcast drops an earnings report that details it lost 427,000 Pay-TV customers, it may not come as a surprise. But if you’re thinking Comcast is cleaning up by picking up new broadband subscribers as they switch from cable to streaming services, you’d be wrong, as Comcast also lost 199,000 domestic broadband customers in the last quarter.

Comcast’s Universal Studios theme parks also saw losses at 5.2%, thanks to a wildfire in California that saw Universal Studios Hollywood closed temporarily (this was January, so the off-season for theme parks). The real money sink is the new park being built in Florida, which is set to open this May and will, at the very least, start to recoup its expenses this year when it opens.

And things only get worse from here. Like many companies that want to keep their content on their own services, Comcast’s Peacock streaming service exists to pick up those cable customers leaving for greener streaming pastures. And while the Peacock streaming service saw 41 million new subscribers in the quarter, with revenue rising 16% to $1.23 billion, this sum still failed to hit a projected $1.3 billion, leaving Peacock unprofitable (for its fifth year in a row) with a $215 million adjusted loss for the quarter.

So yes, much like Verizon is feeling the pain, Comcast had a rough quarter with some big losses across the board. This is not a good sign of a healthy company that has its finger on the pulse of what its customers actually want, and that’s a major problem in a world where there are endless streaming services and data providers to choose from. While it’s doubtful Comcast and its many arms will be going away anytime soon, the expectation is that some of these entities (like its cable companies) will be spun out into their own companies to better separate the losses of its shrinking cable TV services to keep investors happy.