Comcast’s revenue increased 24% in 2007 to $30.9 billion, thanks to cable acquisitions in the year, in particular the Adelphia/Time Warner transactions. For Q4 2007, Comcast reported consolidated revenue of $8.0 billion, an increase of 14%, and an increase in consolidated Operating Cash Flow of 19% to $3.1 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. Net income increased to $602 million, or $0.20 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to $390 million, or $0.13 per share, in the prior year.
“In 2007 we delivered very healthy growth in revenue and operating cash flow, added substantial revenue generating units and generated significant earnings growth – despite a weak economy and intensified competition in the second half of the year. Our goal continues to be to deliver consistent, profitable growth that builds long-term shareholder value. For 2008, we are confident about our competitive position and our ability to further grow our business, as illustrated by our outlook for 2008 free cash flow growth of at least 20%, ” stated Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast.
Some highlights from the company’s financial report:
- Revenue increased 11% to $29.4 billion for the year reflecting strong demand for Comcast’s services. A decline in advertising revenue and a challenging economic and competitive environment in the second half of the year adversely impacted this revenue increase.
- Revenue generating units (RGUs) on a net basis increased 19%, or 6.0 million compared to net additions of 5.1 million last year. Comcast ended 2007 with 57.0 million RGUs.
- In video, Comcast added 2.5 million new digital cable subscribers in 2007.
- A total of 6.3 million, or 42%, of digital cable subscribers took advanced services such as digital video recorders (DVR) and high-definition television (HDTV) compared to 4.5 million, or 36%, a year ago.
- Video revenue increased 7% to $17.7 billion in 2007, reflecting growth in digital cable customers and increased demand for advanced digital features including ON DEMAND, DVR and HDTV, as well as higher basic cable pricing.
- Basic cable subscribers decreased by 180,000, or 0.7%, to 24.1 million during 2007 with 15.2 million or 63% of video customers taking digital cable services.
- Comcast added a record 2.5 million digital cable customers in 2007, an increase of 33% from the 1.9 million digital cable customers added in 2006. Digital cable customer additions in 2007 included 1.0 million full digital cable and 1.5 million digital starter subscribers.
- In Q4, Comcast Cable added 523,000 digital cable subscribers and lost 94,000 basic cable subscribers.
- During the year, 1.8 million additional digital cable customers subscribed to advanced services, like DVR and HDTV, either by upgrading their digital cable service or as new customers. As of December 31, 2007, 6.3 million, or 42% of digital cable customers received advanced services, 5.4 million, or 36% received full digital cable, and 3.5 million, or 23% were digital starter subscribers.
- Growth in video revenue also reflects increasing ON DEMAND movie purchases. Pay-per-view revenue increased 22% to $774 million in 2007.
- For High-Speed Internet, Comcast added 1.7 million high-speed Internet subscribers during 2007 compared to 1.9 million in the prior year.
In Q4, hHigh-speed Internet revenue increased 14% in the quarter to $1.7 billion. The growth includes the addition of 331,000 high-speed Internet subscribers and stable monthly revenue per subscriber. - High-speed Internet revenue increased 18% to $6.4 billion in 2007, reflecting a 1.7 million or 15% increase in subscribers from the prior year and relatively stable average monthly revenue per subscriber of approximately $43.
- Comcast ended 2007 with 13.2 million high-speed Internet subscribers, or 27% penetration of homes passed.
- For phone service, Comcast added over 2.5 million Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers compared to 1.6 million added in the prior year – an increase of 61%. The company increased CDV-ready homes passed by 9 million. CDV service is now marketed to 42 million homes representing 86% of Comcast’s markets.
- Phone revenue increased 85% to $1.8 billion due to significant growth in CDV subscribers, offset by a $229 million, or 50% decline in circuit-switched phone revenues as Comcast transitions to marketing CDV in most areas.
- Comcast ended 2007 with a total of 4.4 million CDV customers or 10.4% of available homes. Entering 2008, Comcast has fewer than 200,000 circuit-switched customers, with the winding down of that business expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
- Advertising revenue decreased 3% to $1.5 billion in 2007, reflecting a significant decline in political advertising, softness in some discretionary categories and one less week in the broadcast advertising calendar compared to last year.
- Capital expenditures of $6.0 billion increased 29% in 2007, reflecting RGU growth, a 63% increase in the number of set-top boxes deployed (including over 2 million HD and/or DVR boxes), additional overhead and equipment necessary to support the higher level of RGU activity, network improvements, capital expenditures related to commercial services, as well as the integration of the acquired systems from Adelphia and Time Warner.
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