Comcast Q1 income rises on cable unit gain

Comcast, the cable giant whose ambition to buy Time Warner Cable was recently quashed, said Monday its first-quarter net income rose 10% to $2 billion as a gain in its Internet business offset NBCUniversal's revenue decline.

After adjusting for some items, earnings per share totaled 79 cents, topping analysts' consensus estimate of 74 cents.

Shares rose 2.3% in pre-market trading Monday to $59.74.

Companywide revenue climbed 2.6% to $17.9 billion.

During the first quarter, Comcast spent $2 billion to buy back its shares. As of the end of the first quarter, Comcast had $8 billion still available under its share repurchase program. It plans to buy back an additional $2.5 billion the rest of the year.

Revenue for the cable communications unit rose 6.3% to $11.4 billion on the strength of its Internet business and telecommunications services provided to corporate customers.

The total number of "customer relationships" increased by 199,000 to 27.2 million in the first quarter, Comcast said.

Its broadband Internet revenue climbed 10.7% as it added 407,000 new customers for the service, the best result in the last two years. Its Internet customer base now totals about 22.4 million. The company said the number of people who subscribe to the Internet service surpassed its video customer base for the first time during the current quarter.

Video customers declined by 8,000 to 22.4 million, reflecting the growing number of cord-cutters industrywide who opt to forgo having cable TV. About 11.3 million customers subscribe to its landline phone service.

NBCUniversal's revenue fell 4% to $6.6 billion. The unit's revenue from operating its cable networks fell 5.9% to $2.4 billion, and the company partly attributed the Sochi Olympics for the decline.

A year ago, NBC broadcast the Sochi Olympics, a once-every-four-years advertising bonanza. Excluding $257 million of revenue from the Olympics a year ago, cable revenue would have been 4.9% higher as distribution and advertising revenues rose, it said.

NBCUniversal's broadcast television segment reported a 14.2% drop in revenue to $2.2 billion. Excluding $846 million of revenue from the Sochi Olympics a year ago and $376 million from the NFL's Super Bowl earlier this year, its broadcast revenue would have been 5.5% higher as advertising sales and retransmission consent fees increased during the quarter.

Revenue from the filmed entertainment segment rose 7% to $1.4 billion partly due to higher content licensing fees.

Revenue from its theme parks rose 33.7% to $651 million as the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios remained popular.

Last month, Comcast said it's walking away from a deal to pay $45.2 billion to buy Time Warner Cable because the companies faced a likely rejection from federal regulators.