Comcast misses quarterly revenue estimates on weak studio, theme park business

Comcast CCZ-N missed estimates for quarterly revenue on Tuesday as the U.S. telecom and media firm had fewer movie releases during the period, while attendance at its theme parks stayed low.

With most of its big movies such as the fourth instalment in the hit animated franchise “Despicable Me” and the disaster movie “Twisters” released in July, Comcast had little to offer in the April-June quarter to match the success of last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Fast X.”

Revenue from its studio business fell 27% and was a drag on its total revenue, which fell 2.7% to $29.69 billion in the three months ended June. LSEG was estimating $30.02 billion.

Its theme park business posted a 10.6% fall in revenue as a post-pandemic surge in visitors eased.

Comcast is leaning on Epic Universe – a collection of immersive worlds such as Super Nintendo World and How to Tran Your Dragon-Isle of Berk – to bolster its parks business but the launch has been pushed back to 2025 from this year.

However, its broadband business was a bright spot, as it weathered stiff competition in the sector. It lost fewer-than-expected customers in the quarter with a drop of 120,000, compared with estimates for a loss of 143,000 customers, according to FactSet.

Comcast said it had not yet seen the full impact of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which offered internet subsidies to eligible households in the U.S.

The company’s plan to focus on direct-to-consumer growth while managing linear TV declines and investing in businesses less impacted by cord-cutting also showed some progress.

Its Peacock streaming service posted a 27.5% rise in revenue to $1.05 billion, driven by a 38% rise in paid subscribers to a total of 33 million.