NBCU Broadcast Revenue Increased 30% During 2014

Cable giant Comcast on Tuesday reported higher fourth-quarter and full-year profitability figures for its entertainment arm NBCUniversal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The entertainment company, headed by CEO Steve Burke, posted higher quarterly operating cash flow, the profitability metric it uses, than in the year-ago period. Operating cash flow of $1.43 billion compared with $1.34 billion in the year-ago period, up 6.6 percent. The full-year figure of $5.59 billion compared with $4.73 billion in 2013, up 18.1 percent.

As management had predicted, film-unit operating cash flow set a company record in 2014. In 2013, it had hit $438 million, which was a company record at the time.

Steve Burke

Comcast said it added 6,000 pay TV subscribers in the fourth quarter to end 2014 with a total of 22.383 million video customers. In the year-ago period, it had grown pay TV subscribers for the first time in 26 quarters, adding 46,000.

Full-year 2014 broadcast revenue increased 20 percent to $8.5 billion due to higher advertising and retransmission consent fees as operating cash flow more than doubled to $734 million amid the higher revenue and an only "modest" increase in operating costs and expenses, the company said.

Full-year cable networks unit revenue rose 3.9 percent to $9.6 billion amid higher distribution revenue, partially offset by a 3.5 percent decrease in advertising revenue. Operating cash flow increased 2.5 percent to $3.6 billion thanks to the higher revenue and flat operating costs, "even as we continue to invest in programming," the company said.

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