Comcast has released their second quarter earnings, which indicate the company saw earnings slip 8.6% due to costs related to their proposed union with NBC Universal. The company posted a net income of $884 million on the quarter, but dealt with $22 million in operating expenses and $37 million in financing costs incurred from the NBC Universal deal (hiring a massive army of lobbyists, lawyers and politicians is rather expensive). Comcast still thinks they should have the NBC deal closed by the end of the year.
Like AT&T and Verizon, the company saw lower broadband subscriber additions than they had wanted, adding 118,000 users on the quarter. Comcast attributed the lower than expected broadband subscriber additions to “softness in the U.S. economy” and “tougher competition from fiber-optic providers” (aka Verizon FiOS).
Comcast’s rather explosive growth on the VoIP front continues, with the company adding 230,000 VoIP customers on the quarter, down from the 233,000 added this time last year. Comcast lost 265,000 basic video subscribers on the quarter, but added 394,000 digital video subscribers on the quarter, significantly up from last year’s 250,000 digital video subscriber additions.
The company ended the quarter with 47.7 million total voice, Internet and television customers (23.2 million video, 16.4 million broadband, and 8.1 million voice). Comcast is now the country’s largest broadband ISP, largest TV provider, and the country’s third largest residential phone company. Of course the company will also be getting significantly larger with their merger with NBC Universal.
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