Comcast Profit Buoyed by Premium Services

Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable television company, said Thursday that its profit more than quadrupled in the first quarter as more customers signed up for its premium cable and Internet services.

Comcast earned $313 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $65 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had predicted earnings of 11 cents a share.

The Philadelphia-based cable operator reported first-quarter revenue of $5.36 billion, up from $4.91 billion.

Comcast said the results were buoyed by growth in its cable and content divisions.

“Comcast has never had more potential for growth or been in a better position to take advantage of those opportunities,” said Brian L. Roberts, Comcast’s chairman and chief executive.

Comcast’s stock fell 4 cents to $31.88 on Nasdaq.

Comcast lost 29,000 subscribers in the quarter but added to revenue by gaining 200,000 subscribers to its digital service, which is more expensive than older forms of cable. Of Comcast’s 21.5 million cable customers, 8.85 million get the digital service.

Digital penetration has now reached more than 41% of cable subscribers. Comcast Cable President Steve Burke said he anticipated that more than 55% of subscribers would eventually go digital.

In March, digital customers viewed more than 100 million On Demand programs, three times the number in March 2004. Company executives have called video on demand a “killer app” for the cable business.

High-speed Internet revenue rose 32.5% to $925 million as Comcast added 414,000 broadband customers, ending the first quarter with 7.4 million.

Broadband penetration has reached 18% of available homes, which “gives us lots of upside,” Burke said. “This business is one that is going to continue to fuel our growth for many years to come.”

Comcast and Time Warner Inc. announced last week that they would buy the assets of Adelphia Communications Corp., the bankrupt cable company, for $17.6 billion in cash and stock. Comcast will get 1.8 million additional subscribers.

Also Thursday, Comcast’s board authorized the repurchase of an additional $2 billion in stock.

In other earnings news:

* Losses at French theme park operator Euro Disney narrowed in the first half because of a financial restructuring. The operator of the Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney Studios theme parks outside Paris reported a net loss of 80.9 million euros ($105.7 million) in the six months that ended in March, narrowing from a 109-million-euro loss in the year-earlier period. Sales rose 5% to 494.1 million euros.

* Regal Entertainment Group reported a 43% drop in first-quarter earnings as higher film rental and advertising costs offset higher revenue. Regal reported net income of $13.1 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with $22.8 million, or 16 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $577.7 million from $540.5 million.

Regal also said it would buy privately held Eastern Federal Theatres for $127.6 million in cash. The deal would add 22 theaters and 238 screens in the Southeast.

* Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. said its first-quarter loss widened as the company doubled spending on programming to attract more subscribers. The loss increased to $193.6 million, or 15 cents a share, from $144.1 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier. Sales more than quadrupled to $43.2 million.