Comcast Q3: 'The Odyssey' Pushes Universal Past $5 Billion as Peacock Posts Second Straight Profit

Comcast said on Thursday, Oct. 22, that Universal Pictures became the first studio to pass $5 billion at the global box office in 2026 and that Peacock posted its second straight quarterly profit, even as the company kept losing broadband customers ahead of its planned spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Comcast reported revenue of $29.3 billion, down 6.1% from a year earlier, according to its third-quarter earnings release. On a pro forma basis, which excludes the January Versant spinoff and the May sale of Sky's German operations, revenue rose 0.5%. Adjusted earnings were $1.07 per share, down from $1.12 a year earlier.

Analysts polled by LSEG had expected adjusted earnings of 98 cents per share on revenue of $29.28 billion, CNBC reported. Comcast shares closed up more than 3% on Thursday.

The Odyssey Drives a Record Theatrical Quarter

Studios revenue slipped 1.1% to $2.97 billion, but the segment's adjusted EBITDA rose 18.6% to $402 million, according to the release. Theatrical revenue climbed 76.6% to $1.13 billion, up from $639 million a year earlier. Content licensing revenue fell 23.7% to $1.55 billion. Comcast said that drop was "primarily due to the timing of when content was made available by our television studios."

Comcast credited the theatrical gain to The Odyssey and Minions & Monsters, plus revenue carried over from Focus Features' Obsession. According to the company, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey opened in July and has taken in nearly $1.8 billion worldwide this year, making it Universal's highest-grossing film of all time.

"Our film slate delivered exceptional results led by Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which generated $1.8 billion in worldwide box office to become Universal's biggest film ever, and Obsession, which set a new box office record for Focus Features and became the top grossing original film of 2026," Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said on the earnings call, according to a transcript published by The Motley Fool.

Peacock Profitable Again

Peacock earned $261 million in adjusted EBITDA on $1.8 billion in revenue, an improvement of $478 million from a year earlier. Paid subscribers rose 17% year over year to 48 million. Deadline reported that the subscriber count was unchanged from the second quarter. Armstrong said Peacock revenue grew 34% and paid subscribers rose by 7 million from a year earlier. He said the flat count showed "strong retention even as we began implementing a price increase earlier in the quarter." CNBC reported that the price increase took effect in August.

The wider Media segment grew revenue 13% to $5.36 billion, including $224 million of extra revenue from the FIFA World Cup on Telemundo and Peacock. Without the World Cup, Media revenue rose 8.3%.

Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh also discussed Peacock's new bundle with YouTube. According to TVNewsCheck, he said YouTube viewers "are typically well familiar with our brands and franchises, they're not currently Peacock subscribers. So, this bundle will give us another opportunity to reach a younger and incremental audience, and in concert with the YouTube main fandoms, drive greater engagement around our content."

Theme Parks Remain Under Pressure

Theme Parks revenue fell 4.4% to $2.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA fell 17.1% to $780 million. Cavanagh said two factors besides macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds added to the slowdown, TVNewsCheck reported: "First, we believe competitors were quicker to anticipate and recognize softness in demand and adapt their marketing strategies. And second, we continue to work through capacity challenges and ride throughput at Epic, given the complexities of opening the most technologically advanced theme park ever built."

"Looking ahead, we expect performance to strengthen as we move through 2027, with a return to growth in the second half of the year," Cavanagh said, according to CNBC.

Broadband Losses and a $1 Billion Charge

The Connectivity & Platforms segment's revenue fell 2.7% to $19.7 billion. Comcast lost 144,000 domestic residential broadband customers, compared with a loss of 91,000 a year earlier, and 274,000 video customers. It added 368,000 wireless lines, bringing its total to 10.6 million. "Subscriber losses weren't the worst ever. But they were the worst ever for a third quarter, which historically has been the seasonally strongest," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research note quoted by Light Reading.

Armstrong said Comcast will take a large fourth-quarter charge for its restructuring: "We expect to have a significant charge in the fourth quarter related mostly to our transformation efforts, and I would quantify that at over $1 billion." Light Reading noted that Bloomberg had reported the company is planning "significant job cuts," a report Comcast has not commented on.

NBCUniversal Spinoff on Schedule

Comcast announced in June that it would separate NBCUniversal and Sky from its cable, wireless and business services operations, creating two publicly traded companies, CNBC reported. Cavanagh will run NBCUniversal. Former Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis will become CEO of Comcast after the separation and is serving as a strategic advisor until then, Deadline reported.

"While there is still significant work ahead, we have a clear path to completion and remain focused on creating two companies with the strategic flexibility, financial strength, and leadership to compete and grow independently," Cavanagh said, according to CNBC. He said the deal is on track to close by the middle of next year. Comcast suspended share buybacks starting in the third quarter and expects the pause to last until the separation is complete.