Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) both reported second-quarter results in the same week, and they told very different stories.
Comcast is splitting itself in two, spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky, while its streaming service Peacock just posted its first-ever profit
Charter Communications is doing the opposite, closing a $21.9 billion deal to buy Cox Communications and bet on more cable scale, even as its core broadband business shrank faster than Wall Street expected. Why Two Cable Giants Are Taking Opposite Paths Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) plans to complete its media spinoff within a year, separating NBCUniversal, Sky, and Peacock from its broadband and cable business. Peacock turned its first quarterly profit, $189 million, on World Cup and “Love Island USA” viewership, even as Comcast lost 167,000 domestic broadband customers in the quarter.
Meanwhile, Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is finishing its Cox acquisition and betting that more scale will help it fight fixed wireless and fiber rivals, even though it lost 172,000 broadband customers, worse than analysts expected. The firm had to cut its full-year profit outlook because of it. This makes you question: is splitting up the smarter answer to cable’s slow decline, or is buying more of it, the way Charter Communications is doing with Cox, the better bet?