CMCSA - Comcast Corporation
44.42 -0.14 (-0.31%)
After hours: 4:19PM EST
| Previous Close | 45.45 |
| Open | 45.66 |
| Bid | 44.51 x 1800 |
| Ask | 44.52 x 1400 |
| Day's Range | 44.43 - 45.67 |
| 52 Week Range | 32.61 - 47.27 |
| Volume | 21,852,474 |
| Avg. Volume | 14,977,344 |
| Market Cap | 203.836B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 1.08 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 16.51 |
| EPS (TTM) | 2.70 |
| Earnings Date | Jan. 21, 2020 - Jan. 27, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 0.84 (1.86%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2020-01-07 |
| 1y Target Est | 51.34 |
- Bloomberg
‘Talking Car’ Dream Gives Way for Gadgets Under FCC Proposal
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has proposed taking back some of the spectrum long promised to automakers and re-allocating it to other wireless uses, according to people familiar with the matter.It’s a potentially significant development in a years-long debate that saw automakers fight to retain frequencies they’ve barely used. Carmakers say they’re poised to finally use the airwaves to connect vehicles and infrastructure to prevent collisions.The FCC sent the proposal to the Transportation Department in recent days, said two people who asked not to be identified discussing the private deliberations. If DOT agrees, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai could set a Dec. 12 vote on the proposal to modify the grant of airwaves it made 20 years ago.The Transportation Department has long resisted the idea and remains concerned and will likely oppose the FCC’s latest plan, one of the people said.Representatives for both agencies declined to comment.Cable providers who offer Wi-Fi for customers’ wireless use are hungry for spectrum as digital technology transforms everything from cars to video feeds and household appliances.More airwaves are needed to help “deliver a future of ubiquitous connectivity,” Charter Communications Inc. said in a Nov. 12 filing. Charter’s network supports more than 300 million devices, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said.Auto industry companies including General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Denso Corp. spent more than a decade developing vehicle-to-vehicle, or “V2V,” communications systems to link cars, roadside beacons and traffic lights into a seamless wireless communication web to avoid collisions and heed speed limits. Yet deployments have been few, and no major automakers produce cars using the technology in the U.S.The auto industry has broadly shifted to favor a newer technology based on cellular systems, in part because it offers a path to transition to 5G systems in the future, proponents of the FCC’s plan say.Ford announced earlier this year that it will outfit all its new U.S. models starting in 2022 with cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. The system would enable Ford’s cars to communicate with one another about road hazards, talk to stop lights to smooth traffic flow and pay the bill automatically while picking up fast food.Automakers and their allies last year asked the FCC to let them use part of the band for cellular-based technology - rather than the Wi-Fi format the agency mandated in 1999 - while preserving all of the airwaves for transportation safety. In a petition the companies said the newer, cellular technology is more reliable, with greater range.The airwaves could be used for fast communications including machine-to-machine links, and smart city applications such as smart cameras, traffic monitoring and security sensors, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, a trade group for companies including Comcast and Charter, told the FCC in a Sept. 25 filing.(Updates with Charter filing in seventh paragraph.)\--With assistance from Keith Naughton.To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net;Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth WassermanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Jeremy Corbyn Wants to Nationalize the Internet
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is behind in the polls for the U.K. election so it’s unsurprising that he’s chucking out more giveaways to voters. The policy to nationalize BT Group Plc’s fixed-telecoms networks business and provide free fiber broadband to every British household is a humdinger nonetheless.Of course, the chances of this becoming reality are slim given that Corbyn’s best hope of becoming prime minister is a coalition with more moderate political parties. Yet the idea has stimulated even more debate than Labour’s previous plans to re-nationalize the railways and the energy utilities, so it’s at least worth thinking about. Taking it at face value, the policy would be a huge mistake that would achieve the opposite of its stated aim of accelerating Britain’s sluggish rollout of fiber broadband.First, there’s the cost. A Labour government would add 15 billion pounds ($19 billion) to an existing 5 billion pound broadband spending pot, according to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. Even assuming that would cover the required capital expenditure — a big assumption — it would cost at least the same again to nationalize Openreach, BT’s networks division.McDonnell says the state would pay for the acquisition by giving BT’s shareholders government bonds as compensation. Yet why would investors, especially those outside the U.K. protected by treaties against asset expropriation, exchange an 8.1% annual dividend yield from their BT stock for the less than 1% returns from U.K. gilts? The network spending itself would be funded by an increased tax on the likes of Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. But the G-20 will probably adopt new international tax standards next year to try to curb Big Tech’s avoidance tactics. So a Labour government might not even be able to whomp up these levies without breaching the new guidelines.Then there’s the speed of rolling out the networks. While the U.K. is well behind the pace on high-speed broadband rollout (it’s 10th in the European Union’s 2019 connectivity rankings), a tortured nationalization process isn’t the answer. BT would have no incentive to keep investing during that period.The same’s true for private competitors such as John Malone’s Virgin Media, Vodafone Group Plc and Comcast Corp.’s Sky. Increased competition has at least accelerated the pace of the rollout: The proportion of homes with fiber access has doubled in two years.Infrastructure investors have also been attracted by the returns promised by fiber, prompting a flurry of investment from KKR & Co., Macquarie’s infrastructure fund and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. McDonnell’s comments have certainly caused some consternation. TalkTalk Telecom Group Plc. said it had paused talks to sell a fiber project, for which Goldman-backed CityFibre Ltd. was the lead bidder. Should Labour ever get the chance to offer free broadband to everyone through a state-owned provider, tens of thousands of private sector jobs would be jeopardized. How would other companies be able to compete?And full-fiber broadband might not even really be necessary. The adoption of next-generation 5G mobile networks promises the ability to transmit far more data at far greater speeds. That would make fiber to every home redundant in parts of the country.There are better and more thoughtful ways to get fiber installed sooner: Making it easier to get permits to build the network; permanently reducing business tax rates for new fiber; and making it obligatory for customers to accept fiber upgrades. If McDonnell is willing to hand over 15 billion pounds to BT shareholders to snap up Openreach, why not use the funds to subsidize the rollout directly?To contact the author of this story: Alex Webb at awebb25@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Alex Webb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe's technology, media and communications industries. He previously covered Apple and other technology companies for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
How Disney+ Is Already Reforming The Streaming Space
In the first 24 hours of its release, 10 million people had already signed up for this much anticipated streaming service.
- Zacks
Buy Roku Stock at a 'Discount' on Disney, Apple & Streaming TV Growth?
Roku stock has already recovered from its post-Q3 earnings release selloff after bullish streaming TV investors snatched up a perceived buying opportunity. But the streaming TV stock might have even more room to run...
- Zacks
Streaming Wars Get Hot for Disney, Netflix, Roku and The Trade Desk
The content explosion is creating massive new opportunity for advertisers and the one platform that connects everything.
- Bloomberg
For Streamers, the Great Unbundling Was Too Good to Be True
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Netflix Inc. broke the cable-TV bundle. Now it’s time to put it back together again, and cable giants like Comcast Corp. look eager to help.It’s true that streaming has created more choices for consumers. You don’t necessarily need to subscribe to a $100-a-month cable package just to access kid-friendly Disney programs or re-runs of “The Big Bang Theory” (or pay extra for the ability to DVR the episodes you’ll miss). There are on-demand apps for both of those now — Disney+, which launched on Tuesday, and HBO Max, which becomes available in May. At the same time, one major consequence of the streaming wars is that they’ve caused a new kind of consumer frustration. It feels like everything is becoming segregated across various services with their own individual paywalls. That requires knowing which TV programs and movies reside where, having to toggle among those different apps — which isn’t as smooth as simply channel-surfing — and managing multiple monthly subscriptions. Sign up for enough of them, and it can easily add up to the cost of good old cable, especially given that a strong internet connection is a necessary component. It’s a situation that’s unsustainable, and already the media and cable giants seem to be eyeing the reintroduction of bundles to make things easier on consumers (and to make their subscriptions stickier).As Comcast’s Matthew Strauss put it, "The great un-bundling could give birth to the great re-bundling.” He should know. Strauss is the former executive vice president of Comcast's Xfinity Services; he was recently put in charge of Peacock, the company’s own streaming product set to launch in April with content provided by its NBCUniversal sports and entertainment division. It will join Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and many more in the new streaming marketplace."How could someone possibly navigate all these apps? That's not how you watch TV,” Strauss said in a phone interview in September. “My prediction is that we're going to come full circle."Strauss and I were on the topic because Comcast had just made something called Xfinity Flex free to customers who subscribe to the company’s internet services but not its cable-TV packages. Flex is essentially a dashboard where users can access streaming subscriptions. It’s a lot like the home screen shown when powering up a Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick — a display of tiles teasing different programs or services. The Xfinity X1 cable service is still front and center for Comcast, but Flex is a sign that the company is at least exploring how to cater to what may some day be a mostly internet-only customer base. While it may not be a bundle, it’s not hard to make the leap and envision a day when Comcast tries to offer bundles of streaming apps to its internet subscribers, serving as the go-between for programmers and customers just like it does in the cable world. Walt Disney Co. is already providing some evidence that it’s thinking the same way. As I noted in my column Tuesday, the entertainment giant recognizes that many viewers want more than a single app dedicated to superhero flicks and G-rated content. That’s why, alongside the launch of Disney+, it also began offering a $13-a-month bundle that tacks on Hulu and ESPN+. While Apple Inc.’s own original works such as “The Morning Show” can be watched with an Apple TV+ subscription, the company also has separately taken to aggregating rival apps in Apple TV Channels, where users can sign up on an a-la-carte basis. Similarly, Amazon.com Inc. has Prime Video and Amazon Channels. These aggregation efforts could all be precursors to bundling.Charter Communications Inc. CEO Tom Rutledge, during a September investor conference, discussed the challenges for so-called direct-to-consumer businesses — such as Disney+, CBS All Access, and so on — that traditionally haven’t had to deal directly with subscribers because the cable giants had typically maintained those relationships. Suddenly, programmers are having to handle billing and service issues and come up with customer-retention strategies. (Disney got a taste of this Tuesday, when its brand-new app was hit by technological glitches.) “All of those activities we do on behalf of traditional pay-TV vendors,” Rutledge said. It’s very hard to get “economies of scale in the direct-to-consumer marketplace like we’ve gotten out of the historic business.” That certainly sounds like someone who’s ready to negotiate some new distribution partnerships. Direct-to-consumer is industry jargon referring to how a streaming app bypasses the traditional distributors — flying directly past Charter and Comcast to the end user. So wouldn’t it be something if the winners of the streaming wars turned out to be none other than the cable companies? At the very least, remnants of their bundling model are sure to live on in streaming.To contact the author of this story: Tara Lachapelle at tlachapelle@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at bewilliams@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications, as well as broader deals. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
Netflix co-founder on why Disney+, others are ‘all in’ on streaming
Netflix's co-founder and first CEO explains why media companies have no choice but to go "all in" on the streaming wars as Disney+ officially launches.
- Zacks
Streaming Wars Commence as Disney+ Nears Debut
Disney (DIS) is set to debut its Disney+ streaming service on Tuesday, which will intensify the competition between streaming services.
- Zacks
Disney+, Netflix, Apple, HBO, & More: Who Will Win the Streaming TV War?
Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains dives into some of Disney's recent quarterly results, before we look at Disney+ and discuss which company, from Netflix to Amazon might win the streaming TV war...
- Bloomberg
Comcast Faces Call for Breakup in Legal Fight With Byron Allen
(Bloomberg) -- With Comcast Corp.’s fight against media mogul Byron Allen’s racial-discrimination lawsuit about to reach the Supreme Court this week, a congressman has weighed in with a call to dismantle the cable and entertainment giant.Allen, the former comedian who controls Entertainment Studios Inc., alleges that Comcast’s unwillingness to carry most of his cable channels is discriminatory. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in June that the suit could go forward, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear Comcast’s appeal of that ruling.At issue is Comcast’s agreement to carry independent TV networks as a condition of its 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal. Allen maintains that Comcast’s refusal to carry Entertainment Studios networks such as ES Lifestyle Network, Comedy.TV and Cars.TV violates the memoranda of understanding reached under the deal.Representative Bobby Rush agrees. “Simply put, it is my belief that the Comcast Corporation needs to be broken up,” the Illinois Democrat said in a letter to Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts. “Comcast’s decision to ignore the memoranda illustrates a careless disregard of minority communities and their interests.”Read more: Supreme Court to Consider Curbing Racial Discrimination ClaimsIt’s unclear under what mechanism Rush would push for a breakup of Comcast.Allen said he pitched his channels to Comcast at the time of the merger approval, to no avail. “This is what everyone feared about their merger,” he said in a phone interview.Comcast has “gone above and beyond the MOUs from the NBCUniversal transaction in every case,” said a company spokesman, adding that Allen chose not to participate in its memoranda-of-understanding process. “There is no major media company in America that has done more to promote diverse programming than Comcast.”The spokesman said Comcast carries black-owned channels such as Sean Combs’s Revolt and Magic Johnson’s Aspire. It also carries the Weather Channel, which Entertainment Studios bought last year for $300 million, under an agreement that predates the acquisition.Allen said Comcast had told him he didn’t need to participate in the memoranda-of-understanding process because it had his information from previous submissions. He said he didn’t press the issue because he believed the process to be fraudulent.Allen has based his lawsuit on Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, a provision barring racial discrimination in contracting. The Ninth Circuit didn’t rule on the merits of his claim but said Allen only needed to show that racial discrimination was a “motivating factor” in Comcast’s decisions not to carry his channels.Comcast said it is asking “that Section 1981 in our case be interpreted the same way it has been interpreted for decades across the country.”\--With assistance from Greg Stohr.To contact the reporter on this story: Kamaron Leach in New York at kleach6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards IIIFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
Why the Supreme Court is hearing a TV mogul's $20 billion racial bias case against Comcast
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday will a hear a dispute that pits Comcast, America’s biggest cable company, against an African-American TV mogul accusing it of racial bias because it declined to carry any of his channels.
- Business Wire
Comcast to Open New Olathe Xfinity Store
Comcast today announced the opening of its newest Kansas City area Xfinity Store in Olathe, Kansas, planned for Thursday, Nov. 14 at 9 a.m. Located in the popular Olathe Station center, this interactive retail and product demonstration showroom is designed entirely around the customer experience, providing an opportunity to explore and interact directly with the latest Xfinity products and services. The Olathe Xfinity Store is the latest opening from Comcast, which has been transforming its retail centers across the country to provide a more interactive and convenient customer experience.
- Yahoo Finance
Roger Penske on buying IndyCar Series: 'There's a chance to break some glass here'
Penske is buying Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar Series and IMS Productions, and has no plans to sell his racing team.
- Business Wire
Comcast Business and NetLevel Partner to Create the Future of Out-of-Home Digital Entertainment
Gig-speed connectivity turns movie theaters into digital entertainment destinations
- Zacks
Media Stock Earnings Lineup for Nov 6: FOXA, ROKU, LBTYA
Here we take a sneak peek into quarterly earnings expectations of three media stocks scheduled to report on Nov 6.
- Investing.com
StockBeat: Roku Gets Price Upgrade Ahead of Earnings
Investing.com – Roku has been given a vote of confidence a day ahead of its earnings as Rosenblatt on Tuesday raised its price target on the streaming-device company, betting that its quarterly results will impress.
- Zacks
What's Next for Surging Facebook & Apple Stock After Solid Earnings?
Welcome to the latest episode of the Full-Court Finance podcast from Zacks Investment Research where Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains breaks down what's next for Facebook and Apple stock...
- Reuters
Comcast launches tools to improve ad targeting on TV
The TV industry has been trying to catch up to digital and internet advertising, where technology has long allowed companies to target ads to people based on interests, and more easily measure how effective the ads were in convincing consumers to visit stores or buy a product. Comcast will rename its cable ad sales division Effectv. The name was chosen because "We're reinforcing that TV is effective, and not just an awareness play," said Maria Weaver, chief marketing officer at Comcast Advertising in an interview.
- Yahoo Finance
Apple TV+ debut tarnished by dour 'Morning Show' reviews
Upon its highly anticipated debut, critics slam the Apple TV+ original series, 'The Morning Show.' Will Apple be able to break through the noise as streaming competitors gear up for a multi-front battle?
- Zacks
Time to Buy Facebook (FB) Stock After Earnings Despite Political Worries?
Facebook (FB) shares have jumped 11% in the past month and the social company recently topped quarterly estimates amid ongoing political scrutiny. The question is should investors buy Facebook stock right now?
- Zacks
IMAX's Q3 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y
IMAX Corporation (IMAX) third-quarter 2019 results benefit from strong growth in network business driven by strength in gross box office from IMAX DMR films.
- Yahoo Finance
TV mogul says Supreme Court case against Comcast is about 'economic inclusion'
Byron Allen, the chief executive of Entertainment Studios Inc., alleges that Comcast refused to license his channels because he is black.
- Zacks
Disney Earnings Preview: What's Next for DIS Stock in the Streaming TV Era
Disney is set to release its Q4 fiscal 2019 financial results after the closing bell on Thursday, November 7 and launch its streaming TV platform just five days later...
- Zacks
Media Stock Earnings Lineup for Oct 31: WWE, AMCX, IMAX, SIRI
Here we take a sneak peek into quarterly earnings expectations of four media stocks scheduled to report on Oct 31.
- Zacks
4 Media Stocks Set to Beat Estimates This Earnings Season
Here we pick four media stocks that are likely to deliver positive earnings surprises this reporting cycle.
