Comcast and CBS Post Strong Results, Aided by Web

Judging by the second-quarter earnings reported by two major media companies on Wednesday, the good times are still rolling in the television business.

Comcast reported that its earnings rose to $1.7 billion from $1.35 billion, or to 65 cents a share from 50 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. The results surpassed analysts’ already sunny earnings projections of 63 cents a share.

Comcast’s strong quarter was spurred by its broadband Internet business and by a rebound, albeit a tepid one, of the NBC broadcast network. This was the first quarter in which Comcast owned 100 percent of NBCUniversal, the network’s corporate parent; it had previously held a 51 percent stake.

The earnings release was celebrated by Wall Street on Wednesday morning, sending Comcast’s stock up more than 5 percent. It closed at $45.08, almost achieving a record high.

After the closing bell, Comcast was joined by the CBS Corporation, the owner of the CBS broadcast network, which reported its highest quarterly profits ever. Earnings there rose to $472 million, or 76 cents a share, from $427 million, or 65 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.

“Double-digit revenue growth â€" and the best quarterly profits we’ve ever had â€" add up to a phenomenal quarter for CBS,” the company’s chief executive, Leslie Moonves, said in a statement. On a Wednesday afternoon conference call, the company’s executive chairman, Sumner M. Redstone, who comes up with new ways to praise Mr. Moonves to investors seemingly every quarter, used the term “supergenius.”

CBS’s performance was attributed in part to content licensing deals with online streaming services like Amazon, which has been running repeats of the network’s newest program “Under the Dome” this summer. The company, which has historically depended more on advertising revenue than its peers have, said it had a 22 percent increase in revenue from content licensing and distribution; Mr. Moonves’s statement mentioned that “our non-advertising revenue sources are having a bigger impact on our results all the time.”

The healthy results from both companies may augur more good news when other networks report in the weeks to come.

At Comcast, revenue for the NBCUniversal division â€" which includes the NBC network, a wide array of cable channels, a movie studio and other assets â€" was up 8.9 percent year-over-year, to almost $6 billion. Michael McCormack, a media analyst for Nomura, said in a note to investors that NBCUniversal’s performance exceeded expectations, “with filmed entertainment and broadcast television revenue offsetting weaker-than-expected theme parks revenue.”

NBC’s cable channels, including USA, Syfy and Bravo, posted a 7.7 percent increase in revenue, to $2.41 billion in the quarter. Its somewhat smaller broadcast business, which has been undergoing a reorganization, had a 11.6 percent increase, to $1.73 billion. Mr. McCormack attributed the broadcast unit’s gains to “better ratings and higher retransmission consent fees.”

Comcast executives specifically credited “The Voice,” the singing competition on NBC that has given the network some much-needed momentum.

Distribution, not content, remains the biggest part of Comcast’s business. Revenue for the distribution business, called Comcast Cable, was up 5.8 percent year-over-year, to about $10.5 billion, partly because it added 187,000 broadband subscribers in the second quarter.

Comcast has been losing television subscribers to DirecTV and Verizon FiOS for years, and it lost another 159,000 in the second quarter. But the rate of loss has slowed lately, a point the company emphasized again on Wednesday. The company squeezed a 2.7 percent revenue gain from its TV business, largely through rate increases and from subscribers who chose more expensive packages.

“Cable had outstanding growth, particularly in high-speed Internet, and NBCUniversal had strong performance across all of its businesses,” Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said in a statement.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 1, 2013, on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Comcast and CBS Post Strong Results, Aided by Web .

Comcast Profit Jumps 26% on Growth of Broadband

The distribution business continues to look bright for Comcast, which reported profit and revenue increases on Wednesday that surpassed analysts’ already sunny projections.

In the second quarter â€" Comcast’s first full quarter owning 100 percent of NBCUniversal, in which it had previously held a 51 percent stake â€" earnings rose to $1.7 billion, or 65 cents a share, from $1.35 billion, or 50 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had been expecting earnings of 63 cents a share.

Total revenue rose 7 percent, to $16.3 billion, from the second quarter of 2012, lifted by the continued growth of the company’s broadband Internet and business products. Free cash flow increased 25 percent, to $1.9 billion. Comcast was the first major television and Internet provider to report quarterly earnings, so its healthy results may augur more good news when others report in the weeks to come.

It is broadband, not cable television, that is generally bolstering cable companies’ results these days, because nearly nine out of 10 American households already subscribe to some sort of TV, but only two-thirds subscribe to broadband.

Comcast has been losing TV subscribers to DirecTV and Verizon FiOS for years. It lost another 159,000 in the second quarter, but the rate of loss has slowed lately. The company squeezed a 2.7 percent revenue gain from its television business, largely through rates increases and subscribers who chose more expensive packages.

Its revenue gain on the broadband side, however, was 8 percent.

“Cable had outstanding growth, particularly in high-speed Internet, and NBCUniversal had strong performance across all of its businesses,” Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said in a statement. He credited the company’s “focus on delivering innovative products and a superior customer experience is driving our success, including stronger video, voice and business services results in cable.”

Comcast Profit Jumps 26% on Growth of Broadband

The distribution business continues to look bright for Comcast, which reported profit and revenue increases on Wednesday that surpassed analysts’ already sunny projections.

In the second quarter â€" Comcast’s first full quarter owning 100 percent of NBCUniversal, in which it had previously held a 51 percent stake â€" earnings rose to $1.7 billion, or 65 cents a share, from $1.35 billion, or 50 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had been expecting earnings of 63 cents a share.

Total revenue rose 7 percent, to $16.3 billion, from the second quarter of 2012, lifted by the continued growth of the company’s broadband Internet and business products. Free cash flow increased 25 percent, to $1.9 billion. Comcast was the first major television and Internet provider to report quarterly earnings, so its healthy results may augur more good news when others report in the weeks to come.

It is broadband, not cable television, that is generally bolstering cable companies’ results these days, because nearly nine out of 10 American households already subscribe to some sort of TV, but only two-thirds subscribe to broadband.

Comcast has been losing TV subscribers to DirecTV and Verizon FiOS for years. It lost another 159,000 in the second quarter, but the rate of loss has slowed lately. The company squeezed a 2.7 percent revenue gain from its television business, largely through rates increases and subscribers who chose more expensive packages.

Its revenue gain on the broadband side, however, was 8 percent.

“Cable had outstanding growth, particularly in high-speed Internet, and NBCUniversal had strong performance across all of its businesses,” Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said in a statement. He credited the company’s “focus on delivering innovative products and a superior customer experience is driving our success, including stronger video, voice and business services results in cable.”