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Holiday movies drive quarterly revenue growth

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"Wicked" amassed roughly $700 mln in global box office

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Hurricanes, competition drive worse-than-expected

broadband

losses

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Comcast ( CMCSA ) surpassed

fourth-quarter revenue estimates on Thursday as blockbuster

holiday releases, including "Wicked", more than made up for a

larger-than-expected decline in broadband customers.

The media and telecom giant also unveiled a $15 billion

share buyback program.

"Wicked", a movie adaptation of the Broadway prequel to "The

Wizard of Oz", earned roughly $700 million at the global box

office, while the animated feature "The Wild Robot" grossed more

than $300 million.

This helped power a near 7% rise in Comcast's ( CMCSA ) studio revenue

in the quarter and pushed its total revenue up 2.1% to $31.92

billion, beating estimates of $31.64 billion, according to LSEG

data.

Its adjusted profit of 96 cents per share also topped

estimates by 10 cents.

The results come at a crucial time for Comcast ( CMCSA ) as it looks

to unchain its main profit drivers such as studio and theme

parks business from the declining cable TV unit by spinning off

select NBCUniversal cable networks.

The company's broadband unit has also faced increasing

competition in recent quarters from telecom firms such as AT&T

and Verizon, who are trying to capture market share by bundling

5G wireless plans with high-speed fiber.

Comcast ( CMCSA ) lost 139,000 broadband customers in the quarter,

higher than FactSet estimates of a 91,000 loss, as it was also

hurt by Hurricanes Milton and Helene that disrupted Florida

businesses during the quarter.

Peacock's revenue rose 27.8% thanks to price hikes made last

year ahead of the Olympics. The streaming service's subscriber

count, however, stayed flat on-quarter at 36 million as Comcast ( CMCSA )

sought to retain users after record additions in the third

quarter.

Its cable TV networks lost 311,000 due to cord-cutting by

consumers shifting to streaming. That was lower than 389,000

losses a year ago and FactSet estimates for loss of 333,000.

The theme park unit reported flat revenue at $2.37 billion.

But its core earnings fell 3.9% due to pre-opening costs for

Universal Epic Universe which is scheduled to open in May.