Comcast reported “robust demand” for its services in Q1, as evidenced by the addition of 35,000 basic cable subscribers in the quarter, continuing the trend of steady growth in its core business for the fifth quarter in a row, and growth of 192,000 in the number of digital cable subscribers. The company said its revenue growth is being driven by consumers’ increasing demand for new digital features and services, including VOD, HDTV and digital video recorders (DVRs).
Financially, Comcast Cable reported revenue of $4.647 billion for the quarter, representing a 9.8% increase from the $4.231 billion in the first quarter of 2003. Video revenue increased 6.7% driven by a 6.0% increase in average monthly revenue per subscriber.
Some highlights for Q1
- Comcast ON DEMAND is now available in 29 markets.
- HDTV is now available to 91% of the company’s basic cable customers. During Q1, 176,000 subscribers signed up for Comcast’s HDTV service to finish the quarter with 469,000 HDTV customers, a 60% increase from Q4 2003.
- DVRs are being rolled out in 14 markets. Comcast said early adoption rates are encouraging. DVRs will be available in every Comcast market by the end of this year.
- Revenues for cable modem service increased 41.9% to $698 million for Q1. Comcast Cable added 394,000 HSD customers to finish the first quarter with nearly 5.7 million subscribers, representing a penetration rate of 15.7%. Average monthly revenue per subscriber was $42.46 in the first quarter of 2004, relatively stable with the first quarter of 2003 and a 2.7% increase over the $41.33 reported in Q4 2003. The company added over 1.4 million homes to its the high-speed Internet service footprint in Q1, making the service now available to 36 million or 90% of its overall network.
- Cable phone revenue declined 20.3% from 2003 to $178 million in Q1 2004, reflecting a 12.1% decrease in subscribers to 1.2 million and a 9.5% decline in average monthly revenue per subscriber to $47.34.
Separately, Comcast withdrew its proposal to merge with Disney, citing a lack of interest “on the part of Disney’s management and Board in putting Comcast and Disney together.”http://www.comcast.com
- For Q4 2003, Comcast cable revenue was $4.507 billion, representing an 8.6% increase over the $4.149 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002. Comcast Cable added 70,000 basic cable subscribers and over 383,000 digital cable subscribers during the quarter. Comcast ended 2003 with 5.3 million cable modem customers, compared to 4.9 million at the preceding quarter. In Q3, Comcast added 472,000 new cable modem customers. The high-speed Internet penetration rate reached 15.2%.