Q3 2023 Comcast Corp Earnings Call

I will now turn the call over to executive Vice President of Investor Relations Ms. Marci ride that curve. Please go ahead Ms. Rebecca.

Thank you operator and welcome everyone. Joining me on today's call are Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, Jason Armstrong and Dave Watson.

I will now refer you to slide two of the presentation accompanying this call, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website, which contains our safe Harbor disclaimer. This conference call May include forward looking statements subject to certain risks and uncertainties. In addition, during this call we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please see our 8-K and trending.

It was issued earlier this morning, the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP.

I'll turn the call over to Mike.

Good morning, everyone and thanks for joining our third quarter earnings call. It was another strong quarter for us with adjusted EBITDA up 5% and adjusted EPS up 13%.

We generated $4 billion and free cash flow, which combined with our expectation of Hulu proceeds in the near future contributed to a pickup in our share repurchases to $3 $5 billion in the quarter.

Our steady performance has been a direct result of how we've always run our company, which is with a focus on industry, leading performance, both operationally and financially in each of our businesses combined with our long term customer centric approach to decision, making that ensures each business is positioned to win in the future.

This has all been facilitated by a philosophy of investment in our businesses that has remained consistent through different economic and credit cycles, and particularly through the recent global pandemic.

Now I'd like to highlight four areas in the quarter that show. How this strategy is playing out before handing it over to Jason to review this quarters results in full.

The first area I'd like to highlight is residential domestic connectivity, where we are very pleased with our performance and strategy as we navigate a highly competitive broadband marketplace.

The customer experience provided by our broadband network, which has ubiquitously available gig speeds today and is on a path to ubiquitous multi gigabit symmetrical speeds combined with our wireless offering through our M <unk> with Verizon and our own network of over 20 million Wi Fi hotspots enables us to provide.

World Class connectivity, both in and out of the home to all of our customers everywhere in the most cost effective and capital efficient manner versus our competition.

Our broadband network and product leadership continue to drive strong residential revenue growth, which was up nearly 4% this quarter fueled by very strong <unk> growth of three 9%.

We're confident in our ability to drive continued <unk> growth because of our focus on constantly improving the product experience through investment and innovation, thus delivering more value to our customers.

Having a truly excellent internet experience as reflected in speed reliability coverage security and latency is constantly increasing in importance to all households, as a result of the consumer experiences. It enables one of the biggest catalyst for recent growth in data.

Usage is the accelerating transition of sports viewership to streaming platforms. The.

The switch of a single Thursday night, NFL game to streaming moves peak data usage on our broadband network from Sunday night to Thursday night, and that game comprises roughly 25% of all internet traffic on Thursday nights.

Every internet service provider fixed wireless in particular will really be put to the test as this transition of sports to streaming continues especially come January when for the first time ever and NFL playoff game will be aired exclusively on a streaming platform, which will be our very own peacock.

The second item I'll highlight is peacock, which added 4 million paying subscribers during the quarter saw greater than 60% revenue growth versus a year ago and at the first year over year improvement in EBITDA since our launch in 2020.

While we report Standalone Peacock metrics given the significance of this initiative, we manage it as part of the broader NBC you media segment, which includes the broadcast and cable networks to best leverage the advantages we bring to the streaming landscape.

William McCordid: William McCordid.

Marci Ryvicker: I will now turn the call over to Executive Vice President Investor Relations Miss Marci Ryvicker. Please go ahead Miss Ryvicker. Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone. Joining me on today's call are Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, Jason Armstrong, and Dave Watson. I will now refer you to slide two of the presentation accompanying this call, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website, which contains our safe harbor disclaimer. This conference call may include forward looking statements such as certain risks and uncertainties. In addition during this call, you will refer to certain non-gap financial measures. Please see our 8K and trending schedule issued earlier this morning, the reconciliation of these non-gap financial measures to gap.

We continue to be pleased with our progress in the few short years since we've pivoted our streaming strategy as a result of the ownership changes at Hulu.

Looking ahead, we are sticking to our plans and still expect 2023 to be the peak year of EBITDA losses for Peacock, though we are now expecting 2023 peacock losses to come in around $2 8 billion versus our original $3 billion loss outlook and for 2024, we expect to show meaningful EBA.

<unk> improvement over 2023.

Mike Cavanagh: If that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

The third area to highlight is our parks business, which generated a record high level of EBITDA, surpassing the previous record that we just set in the second quarter. The reaction to Nintendo in Hollywood in Japan continues to be fantastic and we are very excited about bringing the experience to Florida soon.

Mike Cavanagh: Good morning everyone, and thanks for joining our third quarter earnings call. It was another strong quarter for us with adjusted EBITDA up 5% and adjusted EPS up 13%. We generated $4 billion in free cash flow, which combined with our expectation of who proceeds in the near future, contributed to a pickup in our share purchases to $3.5 billion in the quarter. Our steady performance has been a direct result of how we've always run our company, which is with a focus on industry leading performance, both operationally and financially in each of our businesses, combined with a long term customer centric approach to decision making that ensures each business is positioned to win in the future. This has all been facilitated by a philosophy of investment in our businesses that has remained consistent through different economic and credit cycles and particularly through the recent global pandemic.

Was just in Orlando with the parks leadership team last week reviewing our plans for the new Halloween horror experienced in Las Vegas, and Kids theme Park in Frisco, Texas.

<unk> spent a few hours on a site tour of the Epic Universe Park, which has deepened construction and is simply breathtaking.

So thanks to the momentum of our third quarter results and what we have in the pipeline I could not be more excited about our parks business.

The final area to highlight is our studios business, which is having a great year with three of the top five box office hits for the year, So far and Super Mario Brothers fast turn and now Oppenheimer, which grossed more than $900 million in worldwide box office in the third quarter and became the highest grossing.

Mike Cavanagh: Now I'd like to highlight four areas in the quarter that show how this strategy is playing out before handing it over to Jason to review this quarter's results in full. The first area I'd like to highlight is residential domestic connectivity where we are very pleased with our performance and strategy as we navigate a highly competitive broadband marketplace. The customer experience provided by our broadband network, which has ubiquitously available gig speeds today and is on a path to ubiquitous multi gigabit symmetrical speeds, combined with our wireless offering through our MVNO with Verizon, and our own network of over 20 million Wi-Fi hotspots enables us to provide world-class connectivity both in and out of the home to all of our customers everywhere in the most cost effective and capital efficient manner versus our competition.

<unk> of all time.

This is a continuation of our solid track record where since 2020, we've had at least two of the top five movies in worldwide box office.

We believe that success in this business is not formulaic, it's a craft rooted in creativity and originality, we've long focused on assembling a team of the most innovative filmmakers Chris Nolan, Chris Melinda Andre Steven Spielberg, Jason Bloom, and Jordan Peele to name, a few which positions us very.

Well for the future in the studios business.

More broadly it is our consistent investment approach through past business cycles, and the pandemic that is the reason for much of the success. We're experiencing today, we remained steadfast in supporting our businesses. Even those that were hit hard during that time period for example, and studios, we never stopped believing that piece.

Mike Cavanagh: Our broadband network and product leadership continued to drive strong residential revenue growth, which was up nearly 4% this quarter, fueled by very strong R-Poo growth of 3.9%. We're confident in our ability to drive continued R-Poo growth because of our focus on constantly improving the product experience through investment and innovation, thus delivering more value to our customers. Having a truly excellent internet experience as reflected in speed, reliability, coverage, security, and latency is constantly increasing in importance to all households as a result of the consumer experiences it enables.

We'll want to experience great films in theaters and that conviction enabled us to attract new partners like Chris Nolan, who made a masterpiece and Oppenheimer.

Similarly, while our parks business was closed or limited capacity, we continue to invest heavily in our existing parks, including the velocity coaster in Orlando secret life of pets in Hollywood and the Nintendo lands I have mentioned earlier in Los Angeles in Osaka, and we will be bringing epic universe to life in 2025.

Our strong investment grade balance sheet enabled these investments and puts us in a strong and enviable position today now the business World must deal with the pressures of much higher interest rates, which I believe will asymmetrically advantage, just given our low leverage and a long duration of our debt since the.

Mike Cavanagh: One of the biggest catalysts for recent growth and data usage is the accelerating transition of sports viewership to streaming platforms. platforms. The switch of a single Thursday night NFL game to streaming moves peak data usage on our broadband network from Sunday night to Thursday night, and that game comprises roughly 25% of all internet traffic on Thursday nights. Every internet service provider fixed wireless in particular will really be put to the test as this transition of sports to streaming continues especially come January when for the first time ever and NFL playoff game will be aired exclusively on a streaming platform which will be our very own peacock.

End of 2018, we have refinanced over $40 billion or nearly 40% of our debt obligations reduced net debt from $108 billion to $88 billion today lowered net leverage by a full turn from three 3% to two three times.

Increase the average life of our debt by more than four years to 17 years, while reducing the weighted average cost of our debt to three 6% from three 8%.

Today, 97% of our debt is at fixed rates compared to just 82% at the end of 2018.

Mike Cavanagh: The second item I'll highlight is peacock, which added 4 million paying subscribers during the quarter, so greater than 60% revenue growth versus a year ago, and at the first year over year improvement in EBITDA since our launch in 2020. While we report standalone peacock metrics given the significance of this initiative, we manage it as part of the broader NBCU media segment, which includes the broadcast and cable networks to best leverage the advantages we bring to the streaming landscape.

We accomplished this while at the same time, returning $45 billion to shareholders, including $24 billion via share repurchases and $21 billion in dividends.

To sum up we're in a great place, especially given how the competitive dynamics in our industry might evolve in this higher for longer interest rate environment.

I expect that our focus on building businesses that are market leaders for the long term through strong execution investment and innovation will keep us in one of the strongest positions to perform for our customers employees and shareholders.

Mike Cavanagh: We continue to be pleased with our progress in the few short years since we've pivoted our streaming strategy as a result of the ownership changes at Hulu. Looking ahead, we are sticking to our plans and still expect 2023 to be the peak year of EBITDA losses for peacock, though we are now expecting 2023 peacock losses to come in around $2.8 billion versus our original $3 billion loss outlook. And for 2024, we expect to show meaningful EBITDA improvement over 2023.

Jason over to you.

Thanks, Mike and good morning, everyone I'll take you through our strong third quarter and we'll begin with our consolidated financials on slide four.

Revenue increased 1% to $30 1 billion.

While adjusted EBITDA grew 5% to $10 billion.

Our results were driven by six key growth areas. We have highlighted this year, our connectivity businesses, including residential broadband wireless and business services connectivity, our theme parks streaming and premium content in our studios to.

Mike Cavanagh: The third area to highlight is our parks business, which generated a record high level of EBITDA surpassing the previous record that we just set in the second quarter. The reaction to Nintendo and Hollywood in Japan continues to be fantastic, and we are very excited about bringing the experience to Florida soon. I was just in Orlando with the parks leadership team last week, reviewing our plans for the new Halloween horror experience in Las Vegas and Kids Theme Park in Frisco, Texas. I also spent a few hours on a site tour of the Epic Universe Park, which is deep in construction and is simply breathtaking.

Together these growth areas generated more than half of our total company revenue in the quarter and grew at a high single digit rate over the past 12 months the.

The growth in these areas, which on the whole are margin accretive coupled with disciplined cost management drove our EBITDA growth and contributed to our adjusted earnings per share increasing 13% to $1 <unk>.

Last we generated $4 billion of free cash flow, while returning $4 7 billion of capital to shareholders in the quarter.

Mike Cavanagh: So thanks to the momentum of our third quarter results and what we have in the pipeline, I could not be more excited about our parks business.

Now, let's turn to our individual business results, starting on slide five with connectivity and platforms.

Mike Cavanagh: The final area to highlight is our studio's business, which is having a great year with three of the top five box office hits for the year so far in Super Mario Brothers, fast 10 and now Oppenheimer, which grossed more than $900 million in worldwide box office in the third quarter and became the highest grossing biopic of all time. This is a continuation of our solid track record where since 2020, we've had at least two of the top five movies in worldwide box office.

As a reminder, our largest foreign exchange exposure is the British pound, which was up nearly 8% year over year.

So in order to highlight the underlying performance of the business I will refer to year over year growth on a constant currency basis.

Revenue for total connectivity and platforms was flat at $23 billion, our core connectivity businesses domestic broadband domestic wireless international connectivity in business services connectivity increased 7% to $11 billion in revenue, while video advertising and other revenue dip.

Mike Cavanagh: We believe that success in this business is not formulaic, it's a craft rooted in creativity and originality. We've long focused on assembling a team of the most innovative filmmakers. Chris Nolan, Chris Melendondry, Steven Spielberg, Jason Blum, and Jordan Peele to name a few, which positions us very well for the future in the studio's business. Business.

<unk>, 6% to $10 billion of revenue.

We're focused on investing in and driving growth in high margin businesses, while protecting profitability in businesses with secular headwinds through disciplined cost management and.

And it's working underscored by the 100 basis points of margin expansion for connectivity and platforms in the third quarter, while margins for our domestic legacy cable business improved 160 basis points to 46, 6%.

Mike Cavanagh: More broadly, it is our consistent investment approach through past business cycles and the pandemic, that is the reason for much of the success we're experiencing today. We remain steadfast in supporting our businesses, even those that were hit hard during that time period. For example, in studios, we never stop believing that people want to experience great films and theaters, and that conviction enabled us to attract new partners like Chris Nolan, who made a masterpiece in Oppenheimer.

Getting more into the details residential connectivity revenue was up seven 5%, reflecting 4% growth in domestic broadband 16% growth in domestic wireless and 25% growth in international connectivity business services connectivity revenue was up 5%.

Domestic broadband revenue growth continued to be driven by very strong <unk>, which grew three 9%.

Mike Cavanagh: Similarly, while our parks business was closed or at limited capacity, we continued to invest heavily in our existing parks, including the Velocca Coaster in Orlando, Secret Life of Pets in Hollywood, and the Nintendo Lands I mentioned earlier in Los Angeles and Osaka, and we will be bringing Epic Universe to life in 2025.

Our commitment to network leadership and delivering it ubiquitously across our footprint enables customers to do more on our network. They are using more data and connecting more devices at faster speeds, which provides them with increasing value and underpins our ability to drive <unk> higher this year and beyond.

Mike Cavanagh: Our strong investment grade balance sheet enabled these investments and puts us in a strong and enviable position today. Now, the business world must deal with the pressures of much higher interest rates, which I believe will asymmetrically advantageous, given our low leverage and the long duration of our debt. Since the end of 2018, we have refinanced over $40 billion or nearly 40% of our debt obligations, reduced net debt from $108 billion to $88 billion today, lowered net leverage by a full turn from 3.3 to 2.3 times, increased the average life of our debt by more than 4 years to 17 years, while reducing the weighted average cost of our debt to 3.6% from 3.8%.

At the same time, our residential broadband base remains stable both on a year over year and sequential basis with voluntary churn at record low levels for the third quarter.

While back to school was a tailwind as expected the broadband market remains highly competitive, particularly at the lower end.

During the quarter, we recalibrated by pulling back on some of our promotional offers targeting this segment to remain consistent with our strategy of competing aggressively but in a financially disciplined way. This means striking what we believe to be the appropriate balance between broadband subscriber growth and <unk> growth.

And as we continue to manage this balance we expect ARPA growth to remain strong and our primary driver of broadband revenue growth with somewhat higher subscriber losses expected in the fourth quarter compared to the 18000 loss, we just reported in the third quarter we.

Mike Cavanagh: Today, 97% of our debt is at fixed rates compared to just 82% at the end of 2018. We accomplished this while at the same time returning $45 billion to shareholders, including $24 billion via share purchases and $21 billion in dividends.

We expect subscriber trends to improve over time as we remain focused on network and product leadership and also as we see the benefits of greater footprint expansion.

We've grown our homes and businesses passed by one 5% year over year to $62 million and we're on pace to meet or exceed our goal of 1 million new homes and businesses passed for 2023.

Mike Cavanagh: To sum up, we're in a great place, especially given how the competitive dynamics in our industry might evolve in this higher for longer interest rate environment. I expect that our focus on building businesses that are market leaders for the long term through strong execution, investment and innovation will keep us in one of the strongest positions to perform for our customers, employees, and shareholders.

This is a material step up from 2022, and we should accelerate this again in 2024.

Domestic wireless revenue increased due to higher service revenue driven by strong momentum in customer lines, which were up $1 3 million or 27% year over year to over $6 million. In total. This includes 294000 lines. We just added in the quarter we.

Jason Armstrong: Jason, over to you. Thanks, Mike, and good morning everyone. I'll take you through our strong third quarter and we'll begin with our consolidated financials on slide 4. Revenue increased 1% to $30.1 billion while adjusted EBITDA grew 5% to $10 billion. Our results were driven by six key growth areas we have highlighted this year. Our connectivity businesses, including residential broadband, wireless and business services connectivity, our theme parks, streaming and premium content in our studios. Together, these growth areas generated more than half of our total company revenue in the quarter and grew at a high single-digit rate over the past 12 months.

We continue to test some new converged offers which along with the new iPhone launch should translate into accelerated line additions in the fourth quarter.

With still only about 10% penetration of our domestic residential broadband customer accounts, we have a big opportunity and long runway ahead for growth in wireless.

International connectivity revenue increased 25% to another record high driven by steady mid teens growth in broadband with the remainder driven by wireless reflecting healthy growth in services, and a particularly strong quarter of device sales.

Jason Armstrong: The growth in these areas, which on the whole are margin-accretive, coupled with discipline cost management, drove our EBITDA growth and contributed to our adjusted earnings per share, increasing 13% to $1.8, cents.

5% growth in business services connectivity revenue reflects stronger growth in enterprise and mid market the.

The strong revenue growth in our connectivity businesses was offset by declines in video advertising and other revenue.

Jason Armstrong: Last, we generated $4 billion of free cash flow while returning $4.7 billion of capital to shareholders in the quarter.

Video revenue decline was driven by continued customer losses, the lower other revenue reflects similar dynamics in wireline voice in advertising was impacted by lower political revenue in our domestic markets, which in the fourth quarter will face an even more challenging comparison to last year.

Jason Armstrong: Now let's turn to our individual business results starting on slide five with connectivity and platforms. As a reminder, our largest foreign exchange exposure is the British pound, which was up nearly 8% year over year. So in order to highlight the underlying performance of the business, I will refer to year over year growth on a constant currency basis. Revenue for total connectivity and platforms was flat at $20.3 billion. Our core connectivity businesses, domestic broadband, domestic wireless, international connectivity and business services connectivity increased 7% to $11 billion in revenue, while video advertising and other revenue declined 6% to $10 billion in revenue.

Connectivity and platforms total EBITDA increased 3% to $8 2 billion with adjusted margin up 100 basis points again, driven by the mix shift to our high margin connectivity businesses, coupled with expense management.

Continuing the trends seen in the first half of the year every line item of expense improved year over year, except for direct product costs. These are success based and tied to the growth in our connectivity businesses.

In terms of the breakout in our connectivity and platforms EBITDA results residential EBITDA grew two 4% with margin improving 110 basis points to reach 38, 4% driven by a favorable mix shift.

Jason Armstrong: We're focused on investing in and driving growth in high margin businesses while protecting profitability and businesses with secular headwinds through discipline cost management. And it's working underscored by the hundred basis points of margin expansion for connectivity and platforms in the third quarter, while margins for our domestic legacy cable business improved 160 basis points to 46.6%. Getting more into the details, residential connectivity revenue was up 7.5%, reflecting 4% growth in domestic broadband, 16% growth in domestic wireless and 25% growth in international connectivity business services connectivity revenue was up 5%.

While business EBITDA increased three 6% EBITA margin declined 60 basis points to 57, 5%, reflecting investments, we're making in sales capacity to drive growth in the mid market and enterprise segments.

Now, let's turn to content and experiences on slide six.

Content and experiences revenue increased 1% to $10 6 billion and EBITDA increased 10% to $2 billion driven by record results at parks as well as an improvement in year over year Peacock EBITDA losses.

Looking at the results of each segment I will start with media, which combines our television networks and Peacock given we manage this as one portfolio revenue was slightly higher as strong growth in peacock offset the challenging performance at our linear networks.

Jason Armstrong: Domestic broadband revenue growth continued to be driven by very strong ARPU, which grew 3.9%. Our commitment to network leadership and delivering it ubiquitously across our footprint enables customers to do more on our network. They're using more data and connecting more devices at faster speeds, which provides them with increasing value and underpins our ability to drive ARPU higher this year and beyond. At the same time, our residential broadband base remains stable, both on a year-over-year and sequential basis, with voluntary churn at record low levels for the third quarter.

Unpacking that further domestic advertising declined 8%, reflecting softness in the linear market, partially offset by growth at Peacock, which increased nearly 40%.

Domestic distribution increased 4% driven by Peacock subscription revenue growth of nearly 90% as we continue to grow our paid subscriber base.

We ended the quarter with $28 million Peacock paid subscribers compared to $16 million a year ago with 4 million net additions in the quarter. This result was driven by continued success in converting free Comcast bundled subscribers to a paid relationship as well as organic growth driven by programming, including the start of the NFL season.

Jason Armstrong: While back to school was a tailwind as expected, the broadband market remains highly competitive, particularly at the lower end. During the quarter, we recalibrated by pulling back on some of our promotional offers targeting the segment to remain consistent with our strategy of competing aggressively, but in a financially disciplined way. This means striking what we believe to be the appropriate balance between broadband subscriber growth and ARPU growth. And as we continue to manage this balance, we expect ARPU growth to remain strong in our primary driver of broadband revenue growth with somewhat higher subscriber losses expected in the fourth quarter compared to the 18,000 loss we just reported in the third quarter.

And having the big 10 for the first time as well as Super Mario Brothers landing exclusively on Peacock and our pay one window.

Media expenses were slightly lower reflecting effective cost management, and our linear networks and the timing of primarily costs, partially offset by higher Peacock expenses. This resulted in a six 5% increase in media EBITDA with consistent EBITDA at our television networks and improved year over year Peacock losses for the first.

Time as.

Jason Armstrong: We expect subscriber trends to improve over time as we remain focused on network and product leadership and also as we see the benefits of greater footprint expansion. We've grown our homes and businesses past by 1.5% year-over-year to 62 million, and we're on pace to meet or exceed our goal of 1 million new homes and businesses past for 2023. This is a material step up from 2022, and we should accelerate this again in 2024.

As Mike noted, we believe peacocks financial performance will continue to improve and now expect full year 2023 losses will come in at around $2 8 billion better than our previous outlook of 3 billion. However, keep in mind that in the fourth quarter. We expect our overall media EBITDA results to be impacted by higher sports costs, reflecting a.

Full quarter of the contractual rate increase in our NFL programming. The addition of <unk> 10 to our sports programming lineup and higher Premier League costs compared to last year when games were paused for four weeks to accommodate the timing of the World Cup.

Jason Armstrong: Domestic wireless revenue increased due to higher service revenue driven by strong momentum and customer lines which were up 1.3 million or 27% year over year to over 6 million in total. This includes 294,000 lines we just added in the quarter. We continued to test some new converged offers which along with the new iPhone launch should translate into accelerated line additions in the fourth quarter with still only about 10% penetration of our domestic residential broadband customer accounts.

Turning to studios Oppenheimer had a strong theatrical performance delivering over $900 million at the box office. This success, coupled with the positive benefits from carryover titles from our strong film slate. This year resulted in EBITDA of $429 million. While this is a tough comparison to last year's third quarter, which was driven by the strong performance.

<unk> of both minions the rise of grew and Jurassic World Dominion, It's still ranks as one of the highest EBITDA quarters in the history of studios.

Jason Armstrong: We have a big opportunity and long run way ahead for growth and wireless. International connectivity revenue increased 25% to another record high driven by steady mid-teens growth in broadband with the remainder driven by wireless reflecting healthy growth in services and a particularly strong quarter of device sales. The 5% growth in business services connectivity revenue reflects stronger growth in enterprise and mid-market. The strong revenue growth in our connectivity businesses was offset by declines in video, advertising and other revenue.

At theme parks revenue increased 17% and EBITDA increased 20% to $983 million, our highest level of EBITDA on record our international parks continue to experience nice rebounds post Covid leader.

Leading this growth with Osaka, which benefited from strong demand from Super Nintendo World and our park in Beijing achieved another EBITDA record driven by increases in attendance and per capita spending and.

Jason Armstrong: Video revenue decline was driven by continued customer losses. The lower other revenue reflects similar dynamics and wireline voice and advertising was impacted by lower political revenue in our domestic markets which in the fourth quarter will face an even more challenging comparison to last year. Connectivity in platforms total EBITDA increased 3% to 8.2 billion with adjusted margin up 100 basis points again driven by the mixed shift to our high margin connectivity businesses coupled with expense management.

In Hollywood the positive consumer reaction to Super Nintendo World, which we opened earlier this year drove strong attendance and per cap growth, helping Hollywood to deliver its best quarterly EBITDA in its history.

In Orlando our results were also strong with attendance relatively in line with 2019 pre pandemic levels and revenue substantially ahead.

I'll now wrap up with free cash flow and capital allocation on slide seven.

As I mentioned previously we generated 4 billion in free cash flow this quarter and achieved this while absorbing meaningful investments concentrated in our domestic broadband network footprint expansion streaming and theme parks.

Jason Armstrong: Continuing the trends seen in the first half of the year every line item of expense improved year-to-year except for direct product costs. These are success-based and tied to the growth in our connectivity businesses. In terms of the breakout in our connectivity and platforms EBITDA results residential EBITDA grew 2.4% with margin improving 110 basis points to reach 38.4% driven by our favorable mixed shift. While business EBITDA increased 3.6% EBITDA margin declined 60 basis points to 57.5 percent reflecting investments were making in sales capacity to drive growth in bid market and enterprise segments.

Total capital spending increased 16% driven by higher Capex, which remains within the envelope of the guidance. We gave at the beginning of this year, including connectivity and platforms capex intensity to remain at around 10% and parks capex to increase by around $1 2 billion for the full year compared to 2022.

At connectivity and platforms Capex in the quarter decreased slightly to $2 1 billion with Capex intensity coming in at 10, 3%.

The year over year decline was due to lower spending on customer premise equipment and support capital, which more than offset the investments we are making to accelerate our growth in homes passed as well is to transition our U S network to DOCSIS four point out.

Jason Armstrong: Now let's turn to content and experiences on slide six. Content and experiences revenue increased 1% to 10.6 billion and EBITDA increased 10% to 2 billion driven by record results at parks as well as an improvement in year-over-year peacock EBITDA losses.

Content and experiences Capex increased by $270 million driven by parks with epic accounting for the majority of this quarter's increase in spend working capital was fairly neutral in the quarter and improved by nearly a $1 billion year over year with more than half of this improvement reflecting the pause in production during the work stoppage is.

Jason Armstrong: Looking at the results of each segment I'll start with media which combines our TV networks and peacock given we manage this as one portfolio. Revenue was slightly higher as strong growth in peacock offset the challenging performance at our linear networks. Unpacking that further domestic advertising declined 8% reflecting softness in the linear market partially offset by growth at peacock which increased nearly 40%. Domestic distribution increased 4% driven by peacock subscription revenue growth of nearly 90% as we continue to grow our paid subscriber base.

With the writers and actors strikes we.

We expect this benefit in working capital to reverse as we ramp up to our normal levels of production in the coming quarters.

Turning to return of capital and our balance sheet, we repurchased $3 5 billion worth of our shares in the quarter a step up in our quarterly run rate relative to the first half of the year. In addition dividend payments totaled $1 2 billion in the quarter for a total return of capital in the third quarter of $4 7 billion.

Jason Armstrong: We ended the quarter with 28 million peacock paid subscribers compared to 16 million a year ago with 4 million net additions in the quarter. This result was driven by continued success in converting free Comcast bundled subscribers to a paid relationship as well as organic growth driven by programming including the start of the NFL season and having the big 10 for the first time as well as Super Mario brothers landing exclusively on peacock in our pay one, in the video.

We ended the quarter with net leverage of two three times in line with our target leverage.

With that let me turn it over to Marcy for Q&A.

Thanks, Jason operator, let's open the call for Q&A. Please.

Thank you we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question. Please press Star then the number one on your Touchtone phone.

If you wish or be removed from the queue. Please press star and then number two if you are using a speakerphone you may need to pick up the handset first before pressing the numbers. Once again, if there are any questions Press Star then the number one on your Touchtone phone.

Jason Armstrong: Media expenses were slightly lower, reflecting effective cost management in our linear networks and the timing of primarily costs, partially offset by higher peacock expenses. This resulted in a 6.5% increase in media EBITDA, with consistent EBITDA at our TV networks and improved year-over-year peacock losses for the first time. As Mike noted, we believe peacock's financial performance will continue to improve, and now expect full-year 2023 losses will come in at around 2.8 billion, better than our previous outlook of 3 billion.

Our first question comes from Ben Swinburne from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now live.

Good morning.

Two questions for the team on the cable business or connectivity business.

Jason as you mentioned expenses continue to be a nice tailwind for growth I think investors are.

Focused on your ability to sustain that.

You've been delivering kind of low to mid single digit EBITDA growth in connectivity can you keep this up with expense as expenses as a driver over the next couple of years or do you need revenue to accelerate maybe just talk about the opportunity you see ahead for the company.

Jason Armstrong: However, keep in mind that in the fourth quarter, we expect our overall media EBITDA results to be impacted by higher sports costs, reflecting a full-quarter of the contractual rate increase in our NFL programming, the addition of big 10-door sports programming lineup, and higher primarily costs compared to last year, when games were paused for four weeks to accommodate the timing of the World Cup.

And then I'm just wondering you teased it a little bit with the iPhone commentary, but.

What's the thought process around getting more aggressive in wireless do you.

Jason Armstrong: Turning to studios, Oppenheimer had a strong theatrical performance, delivering over 900 million at the box office. This success, coupled with the positive benefits from carry-over titles from our strong film slate this year, resulted in EBITDA of 429 million. While this is a tough comparison to last year's third quarter, which was driven by the strong performance of both minions, the rise of grew, and Jurassic World Dominion, it still ranks as one of the highest EBITDA quarters in the history of studios.

I want to avoid pressuring financials at all.

Because it would seem like wireless anybody that the potential for wireless to bring broadband growth up to higher levels. This is got to be something you guys are thinking about so love to just hear your considerations on that front.

Hey, Dan Good morning, its Jason let me start with the.

Margin and expense question on the connectivity side I think you're right. We've been sort of consistently expanding margins a large part of that is we had yet another quarter as we mentioned.

Jason Armstrong: At theme parks, revenue increased 17%, and EBITDA increased 20% to 983 million, our highest level of EBITDA on record. Our international parks continue to experience nice rebounds post-COVID. Leading this growth was Osaka, which benefited from strong demand from Super Nintendo World, and our park in Beijing achieved another EBITDA record driven by increases in attendance and per capita spending. In Hollywood, the positive consumer reaction to Super Nintendo World, which we opened earlier this year, drove strong attendance and per capita growth, helping Hollywood to deliver its best quarterly EBITDA in its history. In Orlando, our results were also strong, with attendance relatively in line with 2019 pre-pendemic levels, and revenue substantially ahead.

In the upfront remarks, where every expense line item went backwards or declined year over year, which is a positive outside of direct network costs and just as a reminder, those are costs that directly feed into our key growth businesses like broadband and wireless so as we look forward I think the construct is and you sort of laid this out appropriately we've got several <unk>.

Revenue growth drivers within our connectivity business, namely residential broadband wireless and business services and those are the higher margin businesses within all of connectivity and platform. So the mix shift that were seeing and undergoing where those are the businesses that are growing against businesses that are not growing has been a favorable mix shift for us and we expect it to continue to be.

Favorable mix shifts so I'd look for continued opportunities in both expense and margin.

Jason Armstrong: I'll now wrap up with free cash flow and capital allocation on slide 7. As I mentioned previously, we generated 4 billion in free cash flow this quarter, and achieved this while absorbing meaningful investments, concentrated in our domestic broadband network, footprint expansion, streaming, and theme parks. Total capital spending increased 16%, driven by higher capex, which remains within the envelope of the guidance we gave at the beginning of this year, including connectivity and platforms capex intensity to remain in around 10%, and parks capex increased by around 1.2 billion for the full year compared to 2022.

And I would just add Mike Ben on the other as Jason has pointed out the sixth growth driver businesses that are capable of components of that are all high incremental margin next dollar revenue.

Very high incremental margin, but there's also the businesses that are as we've talked about are not in the six growth drivers that are being managed pretty aggressively frankly for continued.

Ways to find efficiencies to offset the pressures on the top line. So we've got multiple things going on that I think are the tailwind for our continued ability to drive margins.

Jason Armstrong: At connectivity and platforms, capex in the quarter decreased slightly to 2.1 billion, with capex intensity coming in at 10.3%. The year-of-year decline was due to lower spending and customer-premise equipment and support capital, which more than offset the investments we are making to accelerate our growth in homes past, as well as to transition our US network to DOCSIS 4.0. Content and experiences capex increased by 270 million, driven by parks, with epic accounting for the majority of this quarter's increase in spend.

Okay.

So yes.

And as both Jason and Mike said it does start when you talk about margins with the topline.

So real focus around healthy <unk> total revenue growth in connectivity. So all of those things really I think are sustainable.

And you go through a competitive phase like we are.

You, but you've still got to keep your eye on the ball and we believe that over time. In addition to driving good healthy making financially disciplined calls along the way we will return to subscriber growth over time, and so I think you add all that up it's.

Jason Armstrong: Working capital was fairly neutral in the quarter and improved by nearly a billion dollars year-over-year, with more than half of this improvement reflecting the pause in production during the work stoppages associated with the writers and actor strikes.

Jason Armstrong: We expect this benefit in working capital to reverse as we ramp up to our normal levels of production in the coming quarters.

That's the beginning part then.

Your question on mobile.

It's such a important part of our strategy.

Jason Armstrong: Turning to return a capital and our balance sheet, we repurchase 3.5 billion worth of our shares in the quarter. A step up in our quarterly run rate relative to the first half of the year. In addition, dividend payments total 1.2 billion in the quarter for a total return of capital in the third quarter of 4.7 billion. We ended the quarter with net leverage of 2.3 times. Inline with our target leverage.

Has been.

We built up the business had consistent performance.

And believe strongly we got a long runway ahead and one of the things that we're doing just to showcase kind of the focus for US is we are rolling out a buy one get one offer.

It scaled up at the very end of Q3.

It's really kicking off in earnest in Q4, it's a straightforward.

Marci Ryvicker: With that, let me turn it over to Marci for Q&A. Thanks Jason. Operator, let's open the call for Q&A please. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star then the number one under touch tone phone. If you wish to be removed from the queue, please press star in the number two. If you're using a speaker phone, you may need to pick up the handset first before pressing the numbers. Once again, if they're already in question, press star then the number one under touch tone phone.

Good solid offer.

That'll be accretive and will drive broadband benefits in doing so we're starting with the base and that's.

It's just an example that in both residential and in small business will continue.

To be very I think very aggressive in mobile over time, so a lot more a lot more to come on mobile, but we're encouraged and really like the runway ahead.

Ben Swinburne: Our first question comes from Ben Swinburne from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now live. Good morning.

Thanks, Ben Operator next question please.

Thank you next question is coming from Craig Moffett from Moffett Nathanson. Your line is now live.

Jason Armstrong: Two questions for the team on the cable business or connectivity business. Jason, as you mentioned, expenses continue to be a nice tailwind for growth. I think investors are focused on your ability to sustain that. You know, you've been delivering, you know, kind of low to mid-single digitiba dog growth and kind of productivity. Can you keep this up with expenses as a driver over the next couple of years? Or do you need revenue to accelerate? Maybe just talk about the opportunity you see ahead for the company.

Hi, Thank you.

When you go to a different place actually.

Demo and maybe.

Brian If you could talk a little bit about this from a high level kind of strategic point of view, there's been a lot of talk about the prospect for streaming services being re bundled into something that maybe is in some way to closer to what we used to have in the video world I Wonder if you could just talk about that a little bit.

Jason Armstrong: And then I'm just wondering, you teased it a little bit with the iPhone commentary, but what's the thought process around getting more aggressive in wireless? Do you want to avoid, you know, pressuring financials at all? It would seem like wireless and the potential for wireless to bring brought band growth up to higher levels. It's got to be something you guys are thinking about. I'd love to just hear your considerations on that front.

And talk about how zummo might fit into that and whether you think sumo has the potential to actually become a meaningful part of.

Your connectivity and platform.

Thank you great question good morning, everybody.

We're really excited about zummo and the progress that we've made we're making together now with charter.

It's an amazing platform that started with X one but now.

Jason Armstrong: Thank you. Hey, back in morning, Jason. Let me start with the margin and expense question on the connectivity side. I think, you know, you're right. We've been sort of consistently expanding margins. A large part of that is, you know, we had yet another quarter, as we mentioned, in the upfront remarks where every expense line item went backward. They're declined year over year, which is a positive outside of direct network costs and just as a reminder, those are costs that directly feed into our key growth businesses like broadband and wireless.

We'll be in televisions it'll be in devices and it'll be all over the nation and frankly all over the world.

The heart and soul of it as our entertainment operating system, which is global that includes Sky all of Canada.

Cox.

A number of other distributors that we've now gradually build up to all be helping to finance and help the innovation roadmap. So what is that innovation roadmap, it's really <unk>.

Jason Armstrong: So as we look forward, I think the construct is, you know, and you sort of laid this out appropriately, we've got several revenue growth drivers within our connectivity business, namely residential broadband, wireless and business services. And those are the higher margin businesses within all connectivity and platforms. So the mix shift that we're seeing and undergoing where those are the businesses that are growing against businesses that are not growing has many favorable mix shift for us.

Like youre, suggesting what are customers really want they want a great platform a great pipe.

They want world class content that they customize and they want someone to make it really simple for them and do the heavy lifting.

You're bouncing between services and that is what we really built our company on all these years in this industry on so it is somewhat ironic that.

Jason Armstrong: And we expected to continue to be a favorable mix shift. So I'd look for continued opportunities in both expense and margin. I know just that it's my bend that on the other, as Jason pointed out, the six growth driver businesses, either the cable of components of that are all, you know, high incremental, you know, margin next dollar revenue, very high incremental margin. But there's also the businesses that are, as we've talked about, are not in the six growth drivers that are being managed pretty aggressively, frankly, for continued ways to find efficiencies to offset.

We've unbundled to re bundled to unbundled to re bundle and.

Everybody has a different version of that and we're at a moment in time, but a lot of it is having one great platform.

That now the entire industry has and thankfully all of you on this phone who do not live in a Comcast market, which as many.

Our now soon going to be able to get these products talk to your voice remote and see how fantastic the experiences whether you buy the cable bundle or not.

Jason Armstrong: We've got the pressures on the top line. So we've got multiple things going on that I think are the tailwinds for continued ability to drive margin. James. And this is Dave. So, you know, and is both Jason and Mike said, it does start when you talk about margins with the top line. And so, real focus around, you know, healthy or poor, total revenue growth and connectivity. So, all those things really I think are sustainable.

And that's a big point that is most of our sales now are broadband only.

We want to make sure we are the best aggregator for screaming.

And then a logical next step will be offshore others, beginning to try to make it even easier for consumers to purchase and to switch.

Switch packages. So it's a important part of the roadmap and this.

Jason Armstrong: And, you know, you go through a competitive phase like we are, but you still got to keep your eye on the ball. And we believe that over time, in addition to driving good, healthy, making financially disciplined calls along the way, we will return to subscriber growth over time. And so, I think you add all that up.

This was a big week and the charter announcement and I'm sure in their call they'll talk about their commitment to the JV as well.

Thanks, Craig Operator next question please.

Thank you next question is coming from Phil Cusick from Jpmorgan. Your line is now live.

Hey, guys. Thanks, a couple for Dave.

Unknown Attendee: That's the beginning part.

I think you said that you expect to get back to broadband growth over time and as you expand the number of houses that Youre building as Jason mentioned I expect that that's probably part of it but can you talk about the contribution of that low end effort that you started you mentioned on the first quarter call and the level of reversal that youre doing here as well as the recent competition from.

Dave Watson: Then your question on mobile, it's such an important part of our strategy. It has been, we built up the business, had consistent performance, and believe strongly, we had a long runway ahead.

Dave Watson: And one of the things that we're doing, just to showcase kind of the focus for us, is we are rolling out a buy one, get one offer. It scaled up at the very end of Q3. It's really kicking off an earnest in Q4. It's a straightforward, good solid offer that will be accretive and will drive broadband benefits in doing so. We're starting with the base. And that's a, but it's just an example that in both residential and in small business will continue to be very, I think, very aggressive and mobile over time. So, a lot more, a lot more to come on mobile, but we're encouraged and really like the runway ahead.

Fiber and fixed wireless and then secondly, if you can just talk about where wireless is right now how the cbr's trials are going in Philadelphia, and any thoughts on timing to expand that thanks very much.

Ben Swinburne: Thanks Ben.

Unknown Attendee: Operator, next question please. Thank you.

Got it Phil.

So.

As we said.

Everybody has seen some pretty competitive environment.

And so when you we have some continuation of some of the macro issues that we've talked about but we've also as you brought up we've also continued to see.

The expansion of both fiber and fixed wireless footprint. So.

We've gone through several competitive cycles, where there is it's really noted by a lot of new footprint. That's been added and so we did start in the beginning of the year.

Made some adjustments in terms of offers that were really focused more on the lower end of the market.

Craig Moffett: Next question is coming from Craig Mover from Mopin, Nathan, senior line is now live. Hi, thank you.

But you know the part of our game plan is we're going to continue to invest at a better network better products going to compete aggressively, but we're going to maintain financial discipline and that means making.

Brian Roberts: I'm going to go to a different place, actually, Zumo, and maybe Brian, if you could talk a little bit about this from a high level kind of strategic point of view. There's been a lot of talk about the prospect for streaming services being re bundled into something that maybe it is in some ways closer to what we used to have in the video world. I wonder if you could just talk about that a little bit and talk about how Zumo might fit into that and whether you think Zumo has the potential to actually become a meaningful part of your kind of kidney and platform business.

Certain decisions when it comes to balancing rate and volume. So after the first half we did make the decision to pull back on some of our more aggressive offers which.

Resulted in lower connect activity so.

That is.

That is the changes that we've had I think our our voluntary churn rate is very healthy.

Key key part of that that's continued.

And the real issue that we see at this point is as we manage things is just lower connect volume.

Brian Roberts: Thank you. Great question. Good morning, everybody. I, we're really excited about Zumo and the progress that we've made that we're making together now with charter. And it's an amazing platform that started with X1, but now we'll be in televisions. It'll be in devices and it'll be all over the nation and frankly all over the world. The heart and soul of it is our entertainment operating system, which is global that includes sky, all of Canada, Cox, and a number of other distributors that we've we've now gradually build up to all be helping to finance and help the innovation road map.

So but net net we are growing revenues, we talked about earlier, Jason did and then I did and we're going to focus on multiple drivers of revenue growth and will make us a playbook, we make changes throughout so.

<unk>.

And then to wireless your point.

We are continuing to test.

In terms of the CVR S.

Roll offs, where we picked up the pace on that staying close to what charter is doing.

We've seen good progress and the ability to offload traffic and encouraged by the opportunity in terms of the just such a small geographic part of your footprint contribute so much volume.

Brian Roberts: So what is that innovation road map? It's really like you're suggesting what are customers really want? They want a great platform, a great pipe. They want world-class content that they customize and they want someone to make it really simple for them and do the heavy lifting as you bounce in between services. And that is what we really build our company on all these years and this industry on. So it is somewhat ironic that we've unbundled to rebundled to unbundled to rebundle and everybody has a different version of that and we're at a moment in time.

Wireless traffic. So we are in position if we if we so choose to do it but we're we like our where we're at with that no new news in terms of <unk>.

Scaling up on that point, but we're in a good position.

Thanks, Phil Operator next question please.

Our next question is coming from Jessica Reif Ehrlich from Bank of America Securities. Your line is now live.

Thanks, I have two topics one is sports.

And once advertising on sports.

Such a key differentiator in content can you just talk about your longer term sports strategy and how you believe sports will be distributed in the future I mean, you talked about more going.

Brian Roberts: But a lot of it is having one great platform that now the entire industry has and thankfully all of you on this phone who do not live in a Comcast market which is many are now soon going to be able to get these products, talk to your voice remote and see how fantastic the experience is whether you buy the cable bundle or not. And that's a big point that is most of our sales now are broadband only.

Got to consumer.

What what role the linear play as we look ahead three to five years and how would you respond to the leagues are weather.

Whether it'd be a our NFL etcetera investing in E. S. P N and then on advertising it.

It seems to be a weakness across the board cable and media, which is in line I'm sure with the rest of the industry.

Brian Roberts: We want to make sure we are the best aggregator for streaming and then a logical next step will be us or others beginning to try to make it even easier for consumers to purchase and to switch packages. So it's an important part of the roadmap and this was a big week in the charter announcement and I'm sure and they're called that they'll talk about their commitment to the JV as well. Thanks Craig.

But there seems to be strength in the industry and digital whether it's Google or meta.

You as a company slash industry addressing that how do you how do you get dollars back.

Okay, well this is Brian let me, let me start and kick it over to Mike.

Brian Roberts: Operator next question please.

Because I think your industry question on sports is really profound and important.

I think our company.

<unk> has had a long deep rich history in sports both parts of the company.

The best way to consume an NFL game or the Olympics.

Gil Kusik: Thank you. Next question is coming from Gil Kusik from JPMorgan. Your line is now live. Hey guys thanks a couple for Dave. Dave I think you said that you expect to get back to broadband growth over time and as you expand the number of houses that you're building as Jason mentioned I expect that that's probably part of it. But can you talk about the contribution of that low end effort that you started you mentioned on the first quarter call and the level of reversal that you're doing here as well as a recent competition from fiber and fixed wireless.

Is to have our entertainment operating system I just talked about.

And Craig's question in the.

Youll see that in the Olympics.

There'll be nothing like it.

The same goes for I think NBC sports, which is.

Uh huh.

Number one show on television on Sunday Night football.

Got a great team.

Gil Kusik: And then second if you can just talk about where wireless is right now how the CBRS trials are going in Philadelphia and any thoughts on timing to expand that. Thanks very much. Got it Phil. So you know as we said you know and it's everybody's seen you know it's a pretty competitive environment. And so when you you know we have some continuation of some of the macro issues that we talked about but we've also as you brought up we've also continue to see the expansion of both fiber and fixed wireless footprint.

Culture of big events.

Whether it goes from the Kentucky Derby.

Which.

The ratings are much higher when its been on NBC than any previous platform.

And then on and on and with Peacock now we have the most.

Live sports of any of the streaming services.

I believe.

That's a surprise to many people when they learn that and.

Believe that to be the case.

And that's a commitment we made when we had things like the English Premier League.

Gil Kusik: So we've gone through several competitive cycles where there's it's really noted by a lot of new footprint that's been added. And so we did start in the beginning of the year made some adjustments in terms of offers that were really focused more on the lower end of the market.

Or tour de France, or golf or events that went on for longer periods of time, then we're typically on a network, where you wanted more camera angles or more feeds.

And more games and.

And that sets us up for.

For being relevant in the transition that we're all talking about how do we go from analog to digital.

Dave Watson: But you know the part of our game plan is we're going to continue to invest in a better network better products going to compete aggressively but we're going to maintain financial discipline and that means making certain decisions when it comes to balancing rate and volume. So after the first half we did make the decision to pull back on some of our more aggressive offers which you know resulted in lower connect activity.

In a way that helps the leagues and so yeah I can't speculate on what might happen to ESPN, but what I could speculate as we meet with the leagues, which we do frequently.

We think we present a somewhat unique.

Our ability to help.

Get the maximum.

Dave Watson: So that is you know that is the changes that we've had I think our voluntary turn rate is very healthy. Key key part of that that's continued and that the real issue that we see at this point is as we manage things is just lower connect volume. So but you know net net we're growing revenues we talked about earlier Jason did and I did and we're going to focus on multiple drivers of revenue growth.

Engagement now with broadcast and cable and particularly our broadcast platform as well as having a robust streaming service in a super quarter here regarding.

The kind of momentum that we've garnered a lot of that is driven by sports on Peacock.

And that sets you up to answer your advertising question, which I'll, let Mike go into a bit but at the highest level, we're creating the digital.

Capability on Peacock in the most relevant content that looks like a very winning combination.

Dave Watson: And we'll make you know our playbook we make changes you know throughout so that and then to wireless your point we are continuing to test in terms of the CDRS roll loss where we picked up the pace on that. Staying close to what Tartar is doing. We've seen good progress in the ability to offer traffic and encouraged by the opportunity in terms of just such a small geographic part of your footprint contributes so much volume of wireless traffic.

For us as a strategy.

And I'll just add on that it's Mike I'll, just add that the <unk>.

Importance and significance of us being committed to sports and the streaming context Peacock.

As for US combined with the ability to bring the big reach that our broadcaster NBC brings to the party, which I think is an important element of while sports over the long term I think are going to be experienced significantly through streaming I think for a long time the economics of this.

Dave Watson: So we are in position if we if we so choose to do it, but we're we like our where we're at with that no new news in terms of scaling up on that point, but we're in a good position. Thanks, Phil.

Sports rights.

You see is going to be substantially supported.

By broadcast reach that I think for a long time is going to continue to be a significant part of the picture.

Unknown Attendee: Operator, next question, please.

Jessica Rieferlick: Our next question is from Jessica Rieferlick from Bank of America's Curities. Her line is now live. Thanks. I have two topics. One is sports and one is advertising on sports. I mean, it's such a key differentiator and content. Can you just talk about your longer term sports strategy and how you believe sports will be distributed in the future? I mean, you talked about more going direct to consumer, you know, what role will linear play as we look, you know, ahead three to five years and how would you respond to the leagues?

In terms of advertising I would say just that overall, it's not a big difference in story than last quarter. So the AD market has remained soft.

Jessica Rieferlick: Whether MBA or NFL, et cetera, investing in the SPN. And then on advertising, you know, this seems to be weakness across the board, cable and media, which is in mind, I'm sure with the rest of the industry, but there seems to be strength in the industry in digital, whether it's Google NetA. How would you, you know, is a company slash industry addressing that? How do you get dollars back? Okay. Well, this is Brian.

It hasnt necessarily gotten worse, despite a little bit of sequential decline.

It Hasnt gotten better at the same time and Thats, we still continue to think it's due to the general uncertainty about economic conditions that are out there.

The kind of weakness that we're talking about or the softness is particularly on the linear side, while peacock has remained very strong.

Picking at this quarter, a little bit the deceleration from 5% to 8% contributing factor, there, which is a little idiosyncratic as well.

While the retail and tech sectors were down a little bit, whereas auto and pharma and consumer products were up the one that was down that's a little unique in idiosyncratic as entertainment, where you had streamers spending a little less.

Brian Roberts: Let me, let me start and kick it over to Mike, because I think your industry question on sports is really profound and important. I think our company has had a long, deep, rich history in sports, both parts of the company. The best way to consume an NFL game or the Olympics is to have our entertainment operating system. I just talked about in Craig's question and the, you'll see that in the Olympics, it will be nothing like it.

Together with advertisers given the strikes looking at.

What the lineup.

Lineups, where in the recent past and putting some money in other places. So some of that will revert. We believe wants strikes are over and as we look forward to the fall.

<unk>.

Last year's World Cup as well as political that underlying net sales with the improvement in this fourth quarter versus last year's fourth quarter and as far as digital I mean, I think thats why.

Brian Roberts: The same goes for I think NBC sports, which is, you know, number one show in television on Sunday night football. We've got a great team and a culture of big events, whether it goes from the Kentucky Derby, which the ratings are much higher when it's been on NBC than any previous platform. And then on and on. And with peacock now, we have the most live sports of any of the streaming services.

There is definitely the opportunity that some tech competitors are capturing to get.

Premium video monetized and digital platforms, and I think that speaks to why we consider peacock to be an important initiative for us and we're pleased again with the progress we're making in Peacock, which is now north of 28 million subs and strong overall, 60% revenue growth year over year one last.

Point that I, just wanted to add that one of the great things about sports that we're very excited about is streaming sports and what that means for our broadband network strategy that Dave was just talking about Dave and the team I think have found a great balance and how we're running the operation.

Brian Roberts: And I believe that that's a surprise to many people when they learn that and believe that to be the case. And that's a commitment we made when we had things like English Premier League or Tour de France or golf or events that went on for longer periods of time. Then we're typically on a network where you wanted more camera angles or more feeds and more games and that sets us up for being relevant in the transition that we're all talking about.

When a big part of that is a commitment and a belief that.

That we.

See all sports finding away over the next many years, where maybe not so many years to be more and more streamed and that's going to require more bandwidth and that's going to require and create an opportunity for us to have the superior product in the market. So that's our strategy and so sports really.

Brian Roberts: How do we go from analog to digital in a way that helps the leagues. And so yeah, I can't speculate on what might happen to us. But what I could speculate is we meet with the leagues, which we do frequently. We think we present a somewhat unique ability to help get the maximum engagement now with broadcast and cable, particularly our broadcast platform, as well as having a robust streaming service in a super-quarter here regarding the kind of momentum that we've garnered. A lot of that is driven by sports on peacock.

Back to your first question Jessica.

<unk> sold a lot of what we do.

Thanks, Jessica Operator next question please.

Our next question is coming from Brett Feldman from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now live.

Hi, Thanks, I got two questions about your business connectivity segment. The first is you made some comments about investments, you're making to better address enterprise customer demographic I think the assumption has been historically, it's not been a focus for you because serving that demo generally requires you to serve customers with locations outside of your footprint. So I was.

You hear a little more about your strategy for scaling up there and I'm wondering whether that might involve making incremental investments in your connected platform outside of your region, either organically or potentially making some acquisitions and then second I was hoping you give us an update on the extent to which the business segment is contributing to your <unk>.

Mike Cavanagh: And that sets you up to answer your advertising question, which I'll let Mike go into a bit. But at the highest level, we're creating the digital capability on peacock in the most relevant content. That looks like a very winning combination for us as a strategy. You know, just to add on that, Mike, I'll just add that the importance and the significance of us being committed to sports in the streaming context of peacock is for us combined with the ability to bring the big reach that our broadcaster NBC brings to the party, which I think is an important element of while sports over the long term, I think are going to be experienced significantly through streaming.

And wireless is the kind of pacing what youre seeing in the residential space or do you think you have more opportunity there. Thank you.

Hey, Brett Dave.

So let me start overall business services at a very good quarter revenue accelerated a little reflecting stronger growth in enterprise and mid market. So we've been very focused on growing all categories. So.

Your point on the sales investment let me provide some context.

We have been for some time.

Working with partners.

Mike Cavanagh: I think for a long time, the economics of the sports rights that you see is going to be substantially supported by broadcast reach that I think for a long time is going to continue to be a significant part of the picture. In terms of advertising, I'd say Jessica, that overall it's not a big difference in story than last quarter. To the ad market is remains soft, hasn't necessarily gotten worse, despite a little bit of sequential decline, but it hasn't gotten better at the same time.

And most certainly with the acquisition of <unk>, we've been expanding our capability.

To go into other areas and now.

Global opportunity to be able to handle customers. The key here is to be able to take care of customers needs wherever they are so this particular investment is just adding some folks it's not infrastructure that we're building out there we will leverage the partnerships that we have.

But certainly we'll deliver products that meets the customers' needs out, but it's a sales force and adding some people that can drive mid market and enterprise, where the customer's locations are but we will continue to partner and we've got great partnerships with charter Cox, many others and we'll continue to do that it's not really an inch.

Mike Cavanagh: And that's, you know, we still continue to think it's due to the general uncertainty about economic conditions that are out there. The weakness that we're talking about or the softness is particularly on the linear side while peacock has remained very strong. Picking at this quarter a little bit, the acceleration from 5% to 8%, contributing factor there, which is a little idiosyncratic is, while the retail and tech sectors were down a little bit, whereas auto and pharma and consumer products were up, the one that was down that's a little unique in idiosyncratic is entertainment, where you had streamers spending a little less together with advertisers, given the strikes, you know, looking at what the lineups were in the recent past and putting some money in other places.

Restructure.

And in terms of wireless is a very important part of business services and it's clearly this phase is centered on SMB and were getting getting.

Getting going on that we picked up the pace.

On that it's not.

Major driver, yet and overall mobile.

Activity at this point, but we expect that pace to pick up that it is an important one.

For Us and let me just one last point.

I could Brett.

Mike Cavanagh: So some of that will revert, we believe, when strikes are over. And as we look to the fourth meeting, last year's World Cup, as well as political, that underlying ad sales will be in improvement in this fourth quarter versus last year's fourth quarter. And as far as digital, I mean, I think that's why there's definitely the opportunity that some tech competitors are capturing to get a premium video monetized in digital platforms.

Now youre talking about business services, it would be remiss if I didnt. Thank bill.

Bill Stemper.

As he transitions to chairman Emeritus Bill has been spectacular teammate and driver of this business over a long stretch really and one of the great things that Bill did.

Build a world class team I think they've set the bar in terms of performance. We continue to do that and part of that team is a wonderful executive Ed Zimmerman, who has now taken over the running business services for us so congratulations to both.

Mike Cavanagh: And I think that speaks to why we consider peacock to be an important initiative for us. And we're pleased, again, with the progress we're making in peacock, which is in an hour, north of 28 million, you know, subs and strong, overall 60% revenue growth year over year. One last point that I just wanted to add, that one of the great things about sports that we're very excited about is Streaming Sports, and what that means for our broadband network strategy that Dave was just talking about, and Dave and the team I think have found a great balance in how we're running the operation, but a big part of that is a commitment and a belief that we see all sports finding a way over the next many years, or maybe not so many years, to be more and more streamed, and that's going to require more bandwidth, and that's going to require and create an opportunity for us to have the superior product in the market, and so that's our strategy, and so sports really back to your first question, Jessica, is it the heart and soul of a lot of what we do?

Thanks, Brad Operator next question please.

Our next question is coming from John Hodulik from UBS. Your line is now live.

Jessica Rieferlick: Thanks, Jessica.

Great two if I could first of all and maybe for Dave can you just can I just get your thoughts on that.

Charter approach to that to the Disney renewal do you see Comcast heading in that direction or do you see benefits for the industry and for linear TV. If the industry does move in that direction and then following up on some of your comments on the on the broadband side you guys are rolling out rolling out DOCSIS, Florida, I'd always starting to sign up customers.

One could you just update us on the timing of that rollout.

And two.

Do you see it more as an <unk>.

<unk> opportunity or sub opportunity.

Subscriber growth, Okay, and I guess lastly on that you said theres more competition at the low end of the broadband market.

Is there any way you could quantify either Comcast exposure to the low end or how big the low end of the market in broadband.

Thanks.

Thank you John.

Mike and Bryan talked about charter Disney so that.

Brett Sullivan: Operator, next question please. Our next question is coming from Brett Sullivan, from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now live. Thanks. I got two questions about your business connectivity segment. The first is you make some comments about investments you're making to better address the enterprise customer demographic. I think the assumption has been historically it's not been a focus for you because serving that demo generally requires you to serve customers with locations outside of your footprint.

To me I think that is.

Brett Sullivan: So I was curious to hear a little more about your strategy for scaling up there, and I'm wondering whether that might involve making incremental investments in your connectivity platform outside of your region either organically or potentially making some acquisition. And then second, I'll also be giving us an update on the extent to which the business segment is contributing to your success in wireless is the kind of pacing, what you're seeing in the residential space, or do you think you have more opportunity there? Thank you.

The point of view from my perspective, I think every situation's unique.

I think we are in a very unique position because of the platform that we have and the fact that we are in the streaming business as a company, but we have great relationships with content providers and we have a way of figuring things out, but it will be case by case.

As they come up and we will see but a big part of it one of the things we've talked about is value the value of the content and how that model evolves, we'll figure it out.

But I think we are in a good position to be a bridge builder as we go consider each one of these options in the marketplace.

In terms of the network and DOCSIS. So let me give you a sense John we're where we're at so we're about 30%.

Dave Watson: Hey, Brett Dave. So let me start the overall business services at a very good quarter revenue accelerated, a little reflecting stronger growth and enterprise amid markets. So we've been very focused on growing all categories. So your point on the sales investment, let me provide some context. We have been for some time, you know, working with partners and most certainly with the acquisition of masergy, we've been expanding our capability to go into other areas.

And that in terms of mid splits and really focused on this seamless integration.

That connects.

FC to fiber.

And we'll be at 40% next year, So and then we started.

<unk> seen the announcement and we've talked about the deployment of DOCSIS four <unk>.

And so we're going to continue to drive the mid split upgrade areas.

Dave Watson: And now, you know, we have global opportunities to be able to handle customers. The key here is to be able to take care of customers needs wherever they are. So this particular investment is just adding some folks, it's not infrastructure, you know, that we're building out there. We will leverage, you know, the partnerships that we have. But you certainly will deliver products that meets the customer's needs out, but it's sales force and adding some people that can drive mid market and enterprise where the customer's locations are. But we'll continue to partner, we get great partnerships with Charter, Cox, many others, and we'll continue to do that. It's not really an infrastructure moment.

The DOCSIS toward auto follows that mid split.

Trajectory.

And that is the.

Our focus continued focus is just providing leadership of where the market's going the reason why to answer your question in terms of where do we see the benefits that point that the market is going to continue whether it's the sports discussion we talked about earlier as more and more things start to perhaps go to.

<unk>.

There'll be more simultaneous contention at peak moments and we're in a great position with the network. So having that the ability to have faster speeds ubiquitous network coverage at scale, the most efficient network and effectively delivering.

Dave Watson: And in terms of wireless, it's a very important part of business services. And it's, you know, clearly this phase is centered on SMB. And we're getting going on that. We picked up the pace on that. It's not, you know, a major driver yet an overall mobile activity at this point, but we expect that that pace to pick up. That is an important one for us.

Tumors that are one gig today, 770% of our customers are 400, megabits or higher.

And we see where things are going so I think the answers both I think over time.

Its customer relationships as it's going to become increasingly harder for some of the competition to keep up in terms of they have to make network tradeoffs and fixed wireless in particular.

Dave Watson: And let me just one last point. If I could, Brett, while you're talking about business services, it'll be remiss if I didn't thank Bill Stumper, as he transitions to Chairman Emeritus, Bill has been spectacular teammate and driver of this business over a long stretch. And one of the great things that Bill did is build a world-class team. I think they've set the bar in terms of performance. We continue to do that. And part of that team is a wonderful executive Ed Zimmerman who has now taken over the running business services for us. So congratulations to both. Thanks, Fred.

And so that to me is both rate and volume.

And the last point is just on the lower end there was a lot of activity in the lower end, we did respond in the first quarter, but made adjustments for the second half so.

<unk> talked about that and I would just say on the charter and Disney.

What I think it was in.

Sort of the first question I answered, we think theres, a not to echo what Dave said not one size fits all.

<unk>.

Glad happy for both companies that they figured something out good for consumers.

John Hodulik: Operator, next question, please. Our next question is coming from John Hodulik. From UBS, Irvine is our live. Great, too, if I could. First of all, and maybe for days, can we try and just get your thoughts on the charter approach to the Disney Renewal? Do you see Comcast had an in that direction or do you see benefits for the industry and for leading your TV if the industry does move in that direction?

Each situation is slightly different.

I think it's important for us.

Is finding a way to help our customers have a great network aggregate content and have access to the great content and I think we're really well positioned to do that and.

Sure.

We're looking forward to executing upon that.

John Hodulik: And then following up on some of your comments on the broadband side, you guys are rolling out, rolling out Dr. Sport, I know you start to sign up customers. I guess one, could you just update us on the timing of that rollout? And two, you know, would you see it more as an arpo-opportunity or sub-opportunity? You know, subscribe or go with our chat. I guess lastly on that, you said there's more competition at the low end of the broadband market. But is there any way you could quantify either Comcast exposure to the low end or how big the low end of the market in broadband is? Thanks. Thank you, John.

Thanks, John Operator next question please.

Thank you next question is coming from Jonathan Chaplin from New Street. Your line is now live.

Thanks, guys, maybe for Dave just a small question following on from fills.

The.

In terms of the CBR Cbre's trials is the benefit that youre seeing there that you are sort of more enthusiastic about primarily on the cost side from being able to offload traffic or is there a product benefit as well and then with the sale of the 600 megahertz spectrum does that sort of suggests that you're not really.

Interested in owning any spectrum.

Dave Watson: I think Mike and Brian talked about, you know, charter Disney does so that, you know, to me, I think that is the, I provided a point of view. From my perspective, I think every situation is unique. I think we are in a very unique position because of the platform that we have in the fact that we are in the streaming business as a company, but we have great relationships with content providers and we have a way of figuring things out.

<unk> 600 megahertz or.

So theres something sorry, Besides E. Brs was there something specific about 600 megahertz in the portfolio that you had that made it known as just.

Strategic and then if you can give us just a quick update on where you are sort of average usage is on broadband that'd be helpful as well. Thanks.

Okay.

Thank you Jonathan so in terms of CVR S.

Yes.

What I've said before that we're in position.

Dave Watson: But it will be case by case as they come up. And we'll see, but a big part of it, one of the things we talked about is value. Value of the content and, you know, how that model evolves, you know, we'll figure it out. But I think we are in a good position to be a bridge builder as we go, you know, consider each one of these options in the marketplace.

Option for US we're in a good position and we like our where we're at with our current deal.

<unk> capital light approach everything that we've talked about is consistent but we've always been.

Very interested in the benefit of CBRE.

As on the cost side and that if you have again, 3% of your geographic footprint, that's delivering 60% of the traffic that's.

Dave Watson: In terms of the network and, and doctors, let me give you a sense, John, where, where we're at. So we're about, you know, 30% and that in terms of mid splits and, you know, really focused on this seamless integration that connects, you know, HFC to fiber and will be at 40% next year. So, and then we started, you know, you've seen the announcement, and we talked about the deployment of doctors for.

That's a good option.

If we can figure out how to do that so.

That's what's really driving it and but we've always been very focused on.

How to build a.

Better overall wireless experience, we have I think great Wi Fi capability. In addition to CBR asset that is something that we wanted to do but the key for CVR S is that we are just want to be in position.

Dave Watson: And so we're going to continue to, you know, drive the, the mid split upgrade areas. This little, the, doxas4.0 follows that mid split trajectory. And that is the, you know, our focus continued focus is just providing leadership of where the market's going. The reason why to answer your question in terms of where do we see the benefits. It's that point that the market is going to continue, whether it's the sports discussion we talked about earlier, as more and more, you know, things start to, you know, perhaps go to streaming.

And doing it.

Without a massive amount of capex to be able to deliver that smaller geographic area.

And.

In regards to 600.

It's just a it was an opportunity to get value for areas of the country outside of our areas and it just made sense to you know it was.

A good transaction for us and not something that we're going to build outside of our footprint.

Thanks, Jonathan operator, we have time for one more question.

Thank you. Our final question today is coming from Steven Cahall from Wells Fargo. Your line is now live.

Dave Watson: There'll be more simultaneous contention at peak moments, and we're in a great position with the network. So having that the ability to have faster speeds, ubiquitous network coverage at scale, the most efficient network, and effectively delivering. You know, we got customers that are one gig today, 70% of our customers are 400 megabits or higher, and we see where things are going. So I think the answer is both. I think over time this, it's customer relationships as it's going to become increasingly harder for some of the competition to keep up in terms of they have to make network trade-offs in fixed wireless in particular. And so that, to me, it's both rate and volume.

Thank you. So just first on the residential broadband <unk> wondering if you could unpack a little bit of the sequential change I know the big components are double play going to single play from cord cutting as well as just hearing and pricing so with a little bit of a slowdown sequentially should we attribute a lot of that to the slowdown in.

Video losses that you saw or anything else going on in there and then Brian you talked a lot about how effectively you deleverage the balance sheet.

Taking it down by a full turn over the last couple of years also that a lot of your competitors, especially on the media side are going to be more challenged so I know you'll be disciplined in anything you do but as you look ahead and think about competing against some companies that arent challenge like Netflix and Apple and Amazon How do you think about some of the availability of some of those.

Dave Watson: And on the last point, it's just on the lower end. It was a lot of activity in the lower end. We did respond on the first quarter, but made adjustments, you know, for the second half. So I think I talked about that. And I would just say on the charter in Disney, what I think it was in, sort of the first question I answered, we think there's a not echo what Dave said, not one size fits all, very glad happy for both companies that they figured something out, good for consumers.

Distressed content creators that might be out there at some future point. Thank you.

Let me start Stephen this is Dave.

The biggest driver in terms of <unk> was that the first half of the year. Our focus we did make adjustments in that first part of the year.

A little bit more aggressive in the lower end. This resulted in a mix shift among new customers.

That were coming on and this caused the deceleration in <unk> growth from where we were before four 5% to three nine but <unk> still very strong <unk> growth and consistent with our planning and what we were talking about so that was really the biggest driver some certainly benefit.

Dave Watson: Each situation is slightly different. What I think is important for us is finding a way to help our customers have a great network, aggregate the content and have access to the great content. And I think we're really well positioned to do that. And, you know, we're looking forward to executing upon that.

Unknown Attendee: Thanks, John.

And over time to a little bit better performance in the video business with now TV, which is beginning to pick up the pace. So pleased with that but it was mostly that refinement of the lower end offers and youre not going to see that by the way that that level of deceleration.

Jonathan Chaplin: Operator, next question please.

Jonathan Chaplin: Thank you. Next question is coming from Jonathan Chaplin from New Street. Your line is out live.

From Q3 to Q4 as we've made those adjustments so that.

Jonathan Chaplin: Thanks, guys, maybe for Dave just a small question following on from Phil's, the in terms of the CBRS trials, is the benefit that you're seeing there that you're sort of more enthusiastic about primarily on the cost side from being able to offload traffic, or is there a product benefit as well. And then with the sale of the 600 megahertz spectrum, does that sort of suggest that you're not really interested in earning any spectrum besides 600 megahertz or was this sort of something, sorry, besides CBRS, was there something specific about 600 megahertz in the portfolio that you had that made it monstrous strategic.

It's mostly the tier mix change that I talked about.

Kevin I would add onto that just just if you look at the historical context here, we've typically grown broadband or <unk>, 3% to 4% in any given year. We've been operating at the very high end of that for the first three quarters of this year things that contribute to that over the long term you mentioned sort of the tactical components of that but really really we want to see broad.

Band usage growth, we want to see customers hanging more devices on their network, we want to see them, taking higher speeds and thats exactly what theyre doing so those are sort of the foundational pillars through driving ARPA growth over time, and that's exactly what we're seeing.

This is Bryan I actually will let Mike answer because he did such a great job in his old job as CFO and helping put our balance sheet in this enviable position that he described in his opening.

Jonathan Chaplin: And then if you can give us just a quick update on where your sort of average usage is on thought that I'm not gonna be helping as well. Thanks. Thank you, Jonathan. So in terms of CBRS, it's what I said before that we're in position. It's an option for us. We're in a good position. We like our where we're at with our current deal, the MBNO capital light approach, everything that we've talked about is consistent, but we've always been very interested in the benefit of CBRS is on the cost side.

Jonathan Chaplin: And that if you have, again, 3% of your geographic footprint that's delivering 60% of the traffic, that's a good option. And if we can figure out how to do that. So that's what's really driving it. But we've always been very focused on how to build a better overall wireless experience. We have, I think, great Wi-Fi capability in addition to CBRS, if that is something that we want to do. But the key for CBRS is that we just want to be in position and doing it without a massive amount of catbacks to be able to deliver that smaller geographic area.

Comments about how long the debt is.

And some of the interest rates.

We have a great business. This quarter is another demonstration of at the start to the year's fantastic.

But Mike why don't you. So therefore, the bar is very high to do anything other than the plan, we have got and we like the company.

But Mike why don't you go into your thoughts on the content question, specifically sure. Thanks, Bryan. So I think if you zoom out it's much of what I said earlier, Stephen which is.

I think the strength of our <unk>.

Our financial position broadly you think about the across all the businesses. We're in I think of us as having leading positions for the customer, but also strong margins benchmarked against any period can look at that together with a strong balance sheet I think the company couldn't be in better shape financially and I think on the execution side.

Dave and his team and the NBC team.

With me are they.

They know what they're doing and I think where we're not.

Giving anybody any quarter in terms of operating the businesses, we have our priorities, though in how to use that financial strength is very strategic so I think we think about the businesses we're in.

Jonathan Chaplin: And in regards to 600, it was an opportunity to get value for areas of the country outside of our areas. And it just made sense to, you know, it was a good transaction for us and not something that we were going to build outside of our footprint. Thanks, Jonathan.

And investing in them appropriately for return and growth and drive growth in those businesses over the long term, hence the way Jason talks about the half the company. That's got strong revenue growth, we're trying to find ways to put resources into our own businesses.

Steven Cahall: Operator, we have time for one more question. Thank you. Our final question today is coming from Stephen Cahalt from Wells Fargo. Your line is now live. Thank you. So just first on the residential broadband ARPU, wondering if you could unpack a little bit of the sequential change. I know the big components are double play going to single play from court cutting as well as just hearing and pricing. So with a little bit of slow down sequentially, should we attribute a lot of that to the slow down in video losses that you saw or anything else going on in there.

So that's the priority as Brian said, the bar is really high for us to consider anything inorganic, but it's our job to look at these things, but if you think about the what you call. It the potentially distressed media assets I'm, not sure, which ones, you're referring to but many of them are pretty small and it wouldn't change the arc of.

What our company is all about so I think our focus is on the total picture, what Comcast looks like and we're proud of the company we have.

Steven Cahall: And then Brian, you talked a lot about how effectively you've deep leveraged the balance sheet, you know, you're taking down by a full turn over the last couple of years, also that a lot of your competitors, especially on the media side are going to be more challenged. So I know you'll be disappointed in anything you do, but as you look ahead and think about competing against some companies that aren't challenged like Netflix and Apple and Amazon, how do you think about some of the availability of some of those distressed content creators that might be out there at some future point. Thank you.

Thanks, Steve that concludes our call I want to thank everyone for joining us.

Thank you.

That does conclude today's question and answer session in today's conference call. A replay of the call will be available starting at 11 30, a M. Eastern time today on Comcast Investor Relations website. Thank you for participating you may now all disconnect.

Dave Watson: Let me start Steven as Dave. The, um, the biggest drawback driver, you know, in terms of ARPU was that the first half of the year, you know, our focus, we did make adjustments in that, that first part of the year, or being a little bit more aggressive in the lower end. This resulted in a mid shift among new customers that were coming on. And this caused the deceleration in ARPU growth from the where we were before, four and a half percent to three nine, but three nines still very strong ARPU growth and consistent with our planning and, you know, what we were talking about.

Dave Watson: So that was really the biggest driver. You know, some, you know, certainly benefit over time to a little bit better performance in the video business with now TV, which is beginning to pick up the pace. So please with that, but it was mostly that refinement of the lower end offers. And you're not going to see that, by the way, that that level of deceleration, you know, from Q3 to Q4, as we've made those adjustments.

Dave Watson: So that, that it's mostly the the tiramix change that I talked about, it's even I would add on to that just just, you know, if you look at the historical context here, we've typically grown broadband ARPU 3 to 4% in any given year, we've been operating at the very high end of that for for the first three quarters of this year, things that contribute to that over the long term, you know, you mentioned sort of the tactical components of that, the really, really, you know, we want to see broadband usage growth. We want to see customers hanging more devices off their network. We want to see them taking higher speeds and that's exactly what they're doing. So that's the other sort of the foundational pillars are driving ARPU growth over time. And that's exactly what we're seeing.

Brian Roberts: This is Brian. I actually will let Mike answer because he did such a great job in his old job as CFO in helping have put our balance sheet in this enviable position that he described in his opening or comments about how long the debt is and and some of the interest rates. You know, we have a great business as quarters and other demonstration of it. They start to the years fantastic, but Mike, why don't you, so therefore the bar is very high to do anything other than the plan we've got.

Brian Roberts: And we like the company, but Mike, why don't you go into your thoughts on that content question specifically? Sure. Thanks, Brian. So I think if you zoom out, it's it's much of what I said earlier, Steven, which is, you know, the, I think the strength of our financial position broadly, you think about across all the businesses we're in. I think of us as having leading positions for the customer, but also strong margins benchmark against any period you can look at that together with a strong balance sheet.

Brian Roberts: I think, you know, the company couldn't be in better shape financially. And I think on the execution side, Dave and his team and the NBC team that works with me are, you know, they know what they're doing. And I think we're we're not giving anybody any quarter in terms of operating the businesses we have. Our priorities, though, in how to use that financial strength is very strategic. You know, so I think we think about the businesses we're in and investing in them appropriately for return and growth and drive growth in those businesses over the long term.

Brian Roberts: Hence, the way Jason talks about, you know, the half the company that's got strong revenue growth. We're trying to find ways to put resources into our own businesses. So that's the priority is Brian said the bar is really high for us to consider anything in organic, but it's our job to look at these things. But if you think about the what you call the potentially distress media assets, you know, I'm not sure which ones you're referring to, but many of them are pretty small and wouldn't change the arc of, you know, what are companies, you know, all about. So I think our focus is on the total picture what Comcast looks like and we're proud of the company we have. Thanks, Steve.

Unknown Attendee: That concludes our call. I want to thank everyone for joining us. Thank you. That does include today's question and decision in today's conference call, a replay of the call be available starting at 11.30 a.m. Eastern time for today on Comcast Invest Relations website. Thank you for participating.

Unknown Attendee: You may now all disconnect.