View from behind a Comcast truck parked on a residential street in Lafayette, California, on Sept. 28, 2021.
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Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson told investors on Monday that the company expects to lose more than 100,000 broadband subscribers during the fourth quarter as the market remains “competitively intense.”
Comcast shares dropped nearly 10% following Watson’s remarks at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Monday.
Cable broadband growth has been in the middle of an ongoing slump. While executives have also pinned the drop on the slowdown in the buying and selling of homes — noting that there are fewer people signing up for cable when they get a new house — the ramped-up competition from wireless providers such as Verizon and T-Mobile has played a big role, too.
“Our competition remains competitively intense. That has not changed; it has been pretty consistent throughout the year,” particularly among “price conscious” consumers, Watson said Monday.
Watson noted that the fourth quarter is likely to reflect the first half of the year, when the company lost “just under 100,000” customers per quarter.
Despite the continued cable trends, Watson added that Comcast’s broadband business has remained stable when it comes to its higher-end internet packages.
His warning comes after Comcast saw a relatively improved third quarter when it comes to losses.
The company said in October that domestic broadband net losses totaled 87,000 during the third quarter. However, excluding the losses that stemmed from the end of the government’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which had offered a discount for qualifying low-income households, the company estimated there was a growth of 9,000 customers.
Comcast had nearly 32 million domestic broadband customers as of Sept. 30.
Watson on Monday attributed the third-quarter improvement to seasonality. The return to school often means improved broadband numbers. He also noted that NBCUniversal’s marketing of the Summer Olympics helped, too.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
