PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) today reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, said, “Comcast is off to a terrific start in 2019, financially, operationally and strategically. In the first quarter, we delivered strong EBITDA and earnings per share growth, as well as robust free cash flow. Comcast Cable had the best quarterly EBITDA growth in over a decade, while NBCUniversal again posted favorable results. We also continued to strengthen our leadership position in valuable customer relationships and premium content. Now with the inclusion of Sky, we grew customer relationships by 3.6% year-over-year, including 400,000 net additions in the first quarter, reaching over 54 million relationships in total. Across all parts of the company, our teams are executing at a high level and collaborating to drive growth and innovation. I’m excited about this quarter’s results and the opportunities ahead."

For additional detail on segment revenue and expenses, customer metrics, capital expenditures and free cash flow, please refer to the trending schedules on Comcast’s Investor Relations website at www.cmcsa.com.

The comparability of our consolidated results was impacted by the fourth quarter 2018 Sky transaction. Sky’s results of operations are included in our consolidated financial statements following the acquisition date.

Consolidated Revenue for the first quarter of 2019 increased 17.9% to $26.9 billion. Consolidated Net Income Attributable to Comcast increased 14.0% to $3.6 billion. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA increased 18.1% to $8.6 billion.

Earnings per Share (EPS) for the first quarter of 2019 was $0.77, an increase of 16.7% compared to the first quarter of 2018. On an adjusted basis, EPS increased 16.9% to $0.76 (see Table 5).

Capital Expenditures increased 6.0% to $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Cable Communications’ capital expenditures decreased 19.4% to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting a lower level of spending on customer premise equipment and scalable infrastructure. Cable capital expenditures represented 9.5% of Cable revenue in the first quarter of 2019 compared to 12.3% in last year’s first quarter. NBCUniversal’s capital expenditures of $453 million increased 68.2%, reflecting continued investment at Theme Parks. Sky had capital expenditures of $259 million, primarily reflecting investment in customer premise equipment, including continued deployment of Sky Q.

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities was $7.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Free Cash Flow5 was $4.6 billion (see Table 4).

Dividends. During the first quarter of 2019, Comcast paid dividends totaling $869 million.

Consolidated Pro Forma Financial Results

Pro forma results are presented as if the Sky transaction occurred on January 1, 2017. The pro forma amounts are primarily based on historical results of operations, adjusted for the allocation of purchase price and excluding costs directly related to the transaction. These amounts are not necessarily indicative of what our results would have been had we operated Sky since January 1, 2017 (see Table 7 for reconciliations of pro forma financial data).

Beginning in the first quarter of 2019, Cable Communications results include our wireless phone service and certain other business development initiatives which were previously presented in Corporate and Other. Prior periods have been adjusted to reflect this presentation.

Revenue for Cable Communications increased 4.2% to $14.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019, driven primarily by increases in high-speed internet and business services revenue. High-speed internet revenue increased 10.1%, driven by an increase in the number of residential high-speed internet customers and rate adjustments. Business services revenue increased 9.5%, due to an increase in the number of customers receiving our services and rate adjustments. Wireless revenue increased 21.4%, reflecting an increase in the number of customer lines, partially offset by lower device sales as more customers bring their own device. Other revenue increased 7.0%, primarily driven by increases in revenue from our X1 licensing agreements and our security and automation services. Video revenue decreased 0.5%, due to a decline in the number of residential customers, partially offset by rate adjustments. Advertising revenue decreased 4.5%, primarily due to a decline in political advertising revenue. Voice revenue decreased 1.6%, reflecting a decrease in the number of residential voice customers.

Total Customer Relationships increased by 300,000 to 30.7millionin the first quarter of 2019. Residential customer relationships increased by 276,000 and business customer relationships increased by 25,000. At the end of the first quarter, 67.3% of our residential customers received at least two Xfinity products. Total high-speed internet customer net additions were 375,000, total video customer net losses were 121,000, total voice customer net losses were 53,000 and total security and automation customer net additions were 17,000. In addition, Cable Communications added 170,000 wireless lines in the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for Cable Communications increased 9.8% to $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting higher revenue, partially offset by a 0.8% increase in operating expenses. Video programming costs increased 2.8%, primarily reflecting higher sports programming costs and retransmission consent fees. Non-programming expenses decreased 0.5%, reflecting decreases in other operating costs, customer service expenses, franchise and regulatory fees and advertising, marketing and promotion costs, partially offset by an increase in technical and product support expenses. This quarter’s Adjusted EBITDA per customer relationship increased 6.0%, and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 40.1%, compared to 38.1% in the first quarter of 2018. Cable Communications results include a loss of $103 million from our wireless business, compared to a loss of $189 million in the prior period.

Revenue for NBCUniversal in the first quarter of 2019 decreased 12.5% to $8.3 billion, compared to last year's results, which included an incremental $1.6 billion of revenue generated by the broadcasts of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl LII at our TV businesses. Adjusted EBITDA increased 2.9% to $2.3 billion, primarily reflecting an increase at Filmed Entertainment, partially offset by a decline at Broadcast Television due the broadcasts of the PyeongChang Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl LII in the first quarter of 2018.

Cable Networks

Cable Networks revenue decreased 9.2% to $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2019, primarily reflecting decreases in distribution and advertising revenue. Excluding $378 million of revenue generated by the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics in the first quarter of 2018, revenue increased 3.2% (see Table 6). Distribution revenue decreased 6.8%, due to the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics in the first quarter of 2018, partially offset by contractual rate increases and the timing of contract renewals. Advertising revenue decreased 12.8%, due to revenue associated with the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics in the first quarter of 2018 and audience ratings declines, partially offset by higher pricing. Content licensing and other revenue decreased 12.0% due to the timing of content provided under licensing agreements. Adjusted EBITDA increased 0.7% to $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting lower revenue, more than offset by a decrease in operating costs and expenses, including programming and production costs, due to the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics in the first quarter of 2018.

Broadcast Television

Broadcast Television revenue decreased 29.4% to $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2019, primarily reflecting lower advertising revenue. Excluding $770 million of revenue generated by the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics and $423 million of revenue generated by the broadcast of the NFL's Super Bowl LII in the first quarter of 2018, revenue increased 7.1% (see Table 6). Advertising revenue decreased 44.3%, due to revenue associated with the broadcasts of the PyeongChang Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl LII in the first quarter of 2018 and audience ratings declines, partially offset by higher pricing. Distribution and other revenue decreased 3.2%, due to the broadcast of the PyeongChang Olympics in the first quarter of 2018, partially offset by higher retransmission consent fees. Content licensing revenue increased 7.2% due to the timing of content provided under licensing agreements. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 23.7% to $387 million in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting lower revenue, partially offset by a decrease in programming and production costs, due to the broadcasts of the PyeongChang Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl LII in the first quarter of 2018.

Filmed Entertainment

Filmed Entertainment revenue increased 7.4% to $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting higher content licensing, theatrical and home entertainment revenue. Content licensing revenue increased 11.5%, driven by the timing of when content was made available under licensing agreements. Theatrical revenue increased 5.1%, due to the performance of films in this year's first quarter, including How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Us, partially offset by the performance of Fifty Shades Freed in the first quarter of 2018. Home Entertainment revenue increased 7.4%, primarily reflecting the success of Dr. Seuss' The Grinch. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 78.7% to $364 million in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting higher revenue as well as lower operating costs.

Theme Parks

Theme Parks revenue of $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019 was relatively consistent with the prior year period and, in part, reflects the timing of spring holidays, which benefited the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA of $498 million was consistent with the prior year period.

Headquarters, Other and Eliminations

NBCUniversal Headquarters, Other and Eliminations include overhead and eliminations among the NBCUniversal businesses. For the quarter ended March 31, 2019, NBCUniversal Headquarters, Other and Eliminations Adjusted EBITDA loss was $174 million, compared to a loss of $188 million in the first quarter of 2018.

Sky

Pro forma results are presented as if the Sky transaction occurred on January 1, 2017. The pro forma amounts are primarily based on historical results of operations, adjusted for the allocation of purchase price and excluding costs directly related to the transaction. These amounts are not necessarily indicative of what our results would have been had we operated Sky since January 1, 2017 (see Table 7 for reconciliations of pro forma financial data).

Pro Forma Revenue for Sky decreased 5.0% to $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Excluding the impact of currency, revenue increased 1.9%, primarily driven by higher content revenue, while advertising and direct-to-consumer revenues were relatively consistent with the prior year period. Content revenue increased 38.0% to $370 million, reflecting the wholesaling of sports programming, including exclusive sports rights recently acquired in Italy and Germany, increased penetration of premium sports and movie channels on third party pay TV networks in the UK and monetization of our slate of original programming.

About Comcast Corporation

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’ largest high-speed internet, video, and phone providers to residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal is global and operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks and Resorts. Sky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content through its pay television services. It also provides communications services, including residential high-speed internet, phone, and wireless services. Sky operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks, produces original content, and has exclusive content rights.
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