Comcast hails ‘outstanding’ cable division, Sky growth
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Editor
| 28 January 2021
Despite what its CEO says has been the most challenging period the company has faced, Comcast is claiming Q4 20 gains in broadband and Sky returning growth in all three of its markets, bringing total customer relationships and overall revenue in Europe essentially back to 2019 levels.
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For the quarter ended 31 December 2020, Comcast announced adjusted EBITDA of $7.2 billion and net income of $3.380 billion, up 6.9% compared with Q4 2019, on revenue of $27.708 billion, down 2.4% on an annual basis. During the quarter, total customer relationships increased 455,000, the best fourth quarter result on record, with total broadband customers increasing by 538,000, the best fourth quarter result on record. Sky's total customer relationship net additions in the quarter were 244,000, reflecting net additions in all markets. Customer relationships returned to 99.8% of pre-Covid levels.

Capital Expenditures decreased 8.2% to $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. Cable communications’ capital expenditures decreased 1.1% to $2.1 billion. NBCUniversal’s capital expenditures decreased 41.2% to $376 million. Sky's capital expenditures increased 35.6% to $310 million.

The results showed full year revenues slipping by 4.9% annually to $103.564 billion, and net income tumbling 19.3% to $10.534 billion. Highlights of the year included cable communications total customer relationships increasing by 1.6 million, the best result on record; total high-speed internet customers up by 2.0 million, also the best result on record. The year also saw the launch of Peacock, NBCUniversal's premium advertising-supported video-on-demand streaming service which has seen 33 million sign-ups across the US to date.