Comcast is exploring a separation of its cable networks enterprise, President Mike Cavanagh mentioned Thursday.
In the course of the firm’s third-quarter earnings name with buyers, Cavanagh mentioned the corporate is exploring creating “a brand new, well-capitalized firm owned by our shareholders and comprised of our robust portfolio of cable networks.”
The attainable separation wouldn’t embrace broadcast community NBC nor streaming service Peacock, he added. NBCUniversal’s cable networks portfolio contains Bravo, E!, Syfy, Oxygen True Crime and USA Community, in addition to information networks MSNBC and CNBC.
The feedback come as thousands and thousands of shoppers proceed to flee the normal pay TV bundle in favor of streaming. Comcast has been beefing up its streaming service Peacock, which obtained a lift throughout the third quarter when it solely aired the Summer time Olympics in Paris.
Shares of Comcast had been up greater than 3% in early buying and selling Thursday.
(L-R) Michael Cavanagh, then-chief monetary officer of Comcast, talks with Brian Roberts, chief government officer of Comcast, as they arrive for the annual Allen & Firm Solar Valley Convention, July 9, 2019 in Solar Valley, Idaho.
Drew Angerer | Getty Photographs
The corporate misplaced 365,000 cable TV clients throughout the third quarter. The ache has been felt throughout the business.
Analyst agency MoffettNathanson estimated there have been 4 million conventional pay TV subscriber losses within the first six months of the 12 months, calling it “a mindboggling complete.” That features 2.37 million losses within the first quarter, thought of the worst-ever quarter for defections from the bundle.
In August, Warner Bros. Discovery booked a $9.1 billion write-down of its TV networks, triggered by the reevaluation of the e-book worth of the phase.
“Like a lot of our friends in media, we’re experiencing the consequences of the transition in our video companies and have been finding out the most effective path ahead for these belongings,” Cavanagh mentioned Thursday. “We aren’t prepared to speak about any specifics but, however we’ll be again to you as and after we attain agency conclusions.”
Cavanagh famous that Comcast had stayed out of the fray earlier this 12 months throughout a back-and-forth gross sales course of for Paramount World — the storied media firm that features a movie studio, portfolio of cable networks and streaming companies.
Cavanagh added that the corporate is contemplating streaming partnerships, however because of the sophisticated nature of these offers the corporate is just “open to them” at this level.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the mother or father firm of CNBC.
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