Comcast Corp Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ben Swinburne - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Thanks. Good morning. Mike, just coming back to your comments on strategic reviews on the media side, which obviously are quite interesting. Can you talk a little bit about the assets you're looking at in this portfolio review? It sounded like domestic cable networks, but you also mentioned streaming. And in particular around your point about complexity, trying to think about the ability or challenges of separating Peacock from your Linear Networks. Maybe it's not as complex as I'm thinking, but operationally, how do you think through the pieces? And do those assets need to travel together or perhaps not? And then for either Dave or Jason, just would love to hear how you guys are thinking about the fourth quarter broadband subscribers. Do you think you can be -- can grow again in Q4, given normal seasonality and other factors as we move beyond ACP? Thanks so much.

Question: Ben Swinburne - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Thanks very much.

Question: Craig Moffett - MoffettNathanson LLC - Analyst : Hi, thank you. Two questions, if I could. Let me start on the theme park side. As you look forward to Epic for next year, first, how do we think about the capacity of Epic? And how do you think about balancing the potential demand in terms of volume versus perhaps trying to more significantly price it so that you get a better experience with lower crowds? I'm just wondering how you think about that balance. And then a housekeeping question, by the way, is are you seeing -- you mentioned $150 million of cost expected in Q4. Should we -- was there anything in Q3 that we should be aware of in terms of Epic anticipation costs? And then on the cable side, if I could just squeeze in one more. How are you thinking about BEAD at the moment? And at the rate that you're expanding the footprint, should we expect any significant capital intensity changes as you have now a little more insight about the BEAD program and what you might do in rural markets?

Question: Michael Ng - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Analyst : Hi, good morning. I just have two, one housekeeping one. Just on the Olympics, encouraging to see the record $1.9 billion of revenue. I was just wondering if you could comment on profitability as well. And any way to better think about the potential uplift from Olympics on broadband net adds? And then second, I wanted to ask about video. You had very good video net adds performance in the quarter as well as on programming costs. Anything that you would call out there that may be improving the trends within video? Thank you.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks. Two, if I could. I guess, first, following up on Jason's comments, we're definitely getting a better picture of what the competitive fiber footprint is going to look like in the US over the next five years. And I think Jason's comments addressed the impact on subs. But maybe for Dave, can you talk a little bit about the impact on ARPU and pricing power when a new fiber provider opens in an Xfinity market? And then secondly, I guess, for Jason, I realize we're probably early in what might be a longer process. But maybe at a high level, can you help us -- can you maybe frame the potential change in the growth rate of the remaining Comcast assets that you may see, if you guys -- if you do move ahead with the spin of the cable nets? What bump in terms of the growth rate are we looking at here? Thanks.

Question: Jessica Reif Ehrlich - BofA Securities, Inc. - Analyst : So of course, one on NBC and one on cable. NBC is actually a multi-parter. There's just a lot going on there in coming years. So just kind of maybe a follow-up on Epic. But can you kind of give us some color on your thoughts on what -- how it will impact the bottom line over the next three to five years? Obviously, you'll take share in Orlando. It's a big market. But how do you think about it impacting the bottom line? On NBA, can you talk a little bit about monetization? Obviously, there's a big increased investment. But you mentioned something interesting on the call that there's an opportunity outside of the regular season, and of course, it will be NBC and Peacock. And then finally, one last question on this potential spin-out. Can you just talk about the thought process? Is it -- do you view it as a roll-up vehicle for the industry? And then on cable, it's kind of a video question, but we see Charter signing agreements with all of the streaming platforms, you included. And you've taken a very different approach. Can you just maybe discuss how your video offering will evolve over time?

Question: Jonathan Chaplin - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : I'm wondering, so CapEx year-to-date is running a little bit below the 10% in connectivity & platforms that you would expect at the beginning of the year. Should we anticipate a big catch-up in 4Q? And then I'm wondering if you can give us a quick update on where you are with the upgrade of the cable plant, where you expect to be at the end of the year. Are you moving through that at the pace that you anticipated? Or as you've gained more clarity on the sort of evolution of the competitive dynamics, is that maybe not quite as urgent as initially anticipated? And then on the footprint expansion, Jason, you mentioned this is sort of part of the -- really your competitive strategy. Are you expanding your footprint? If I think about the difference between the 800,000 that you were at and the 1.2 million that you're at now, is that incremental piece mostly in rural markets where you don't expect to have fiber competition?

Question: Steven Cahall - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst : A couple of media questions. So first, you made the interesting Paramount streaming call out. I was just wondering, since you were both excluded from the venue initiative, if there's any intentionality there that we can think about in terms of potential bundle that you might have mentioned? It seems like it would be pretty sizable in terms of sports rights, movie, and TV library. So anything you could expand on there in terms of whether you're just looking at a bundle? Something that's more of a deeper integration for the customer, that would be interesting. And then a related question kind of tying a lot of these things together. I thought it was interesting how you called out the Olympics as one of the drivers of the broadband strength in the quarter. We don't often think about content as a driver of broadband subscriber acquisitions. Is that something that you think could be happening more in the future? Did that inform your decision on the NBA rights? And is that one of the reasons that you also want to keep the growth media assets together with your connectivity business longer term? Thank you.