Comcast, like Charter Communications, saw Q2 continue a trend of broadband subscriber losses. But it also marked Comcast's best quarter ever in mobile subscriber growth, the company said as it announced results Thursday. It said it's starting to see progress from a revamp of its broadband offerings.

Warner Bros. Discovery -- formed from Discovery's 2022 purchase of WarnerMedia -- will again become two companies, one focused on cable networks and the other on streaming. WBD announced the restructuring Monday, saying it should be done by mid-2026. The split comes after Comcast separated its cable networks and digital assets (see 2411200001) and Lionsgate separated its movie studio and TV businesses (see 2405140002). Analysts and others said WBD's move to two independent, publicly traded companies should have happened awhile ago.

Comcast taps David Novak, co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, as board chairman of SpinCo, its spinoff of media brands and digital businesses.

With Comcast's planned spinoff of cable network assets, Peacock is its lead TV service, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Wednesday. Accordingly, NBCUniversal must focus on retaining subscribers who might otherwise cancel and restart just for particular seasons of sports programming, he said, adding that Peacock will likely be a hub for NBA programming, all NBCU-licensed sports and reality programming. One challenge for Peacock is that its subscribers will bear the cost of Comcast's NBA and Premier League soccer licenses, he said.

Comcast "will lean into wireless more than ever,” President Mike Cavanagh said in a call with analysts as the company announced Q4 results Thursday, which included worse-than-expected broadband subscriber losses. In December, Comcast predicted losses just north of 100,000 during the quarter (see 2412090029); they came in at 139,000. “Competitive conditions remain intense, dynamic and varied across our footprint and customer segments, and we see no signs of this changing in the near term," Cavanagh said. Comcast closed at $33.25, down $4.11, Charter at $336.62, down $22.71, with the latter to announce Q4 results Friday.

Comcast's spun-off cable networks clearly will consider deals, though whether they're bought or buy other networks remains to be seen, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett noted Tuesday. The spinoff makes deals far more likely since, as a publicly traded company, it will have a market-derived valuation and be easier for the sides to reach mutually agreeable terms, he said. Taxation issues mean no deal happens before 2026, at the earliest, he added. Its large cable portfolio "make[s]" Warner Bros. Discovery "the most natural dancing partner" for a deal.

News and sports content could push Comcast's Peacock penetration and usage "into Netflix territory," nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. Comcast's planned spinoff of most of its cable networks (see 2411200001) means that rather than trying to balance maintaining cable's popularity with Peacock's growth and usage, Comcast can put its full weight behind Peacock, he wrote. In addition, Comcast can put all its licensed sports content on Peacock and use its production capabilities to make streaming those sports better than watching them on linear TV, added Dixon. Moreover, NBC News also could become more fully integrated with Peacock. He wrote that Peacock's mobile experience should make news more prominent, as people choose smartphones first for breaking news.

Comcast's plans for spinning off most of its cable networks (see 2410310013), along with Diamond Sports Group having just four more years of MLB TV rights and the NFL possibly ending its linear TV deals indicate linear TV is in "terminal decline," Macquarie's Tim Nollen noted last week. Nollen said an M&A-friendly government plus lower interest rates could see the Comcast spinoff becoming part of a larger cable network business using its scale to cut costs and negotiate better carriage terms. He said regional sports network Diamond emerges from its Chapter 11 reorganization with rights to at least six MLB teams until 2028 -- the same year national MLB contracts with ESPN, Fox and Turner networks end. He said MLB would like to get rid of RSNs and distribute games at a national rather than a regional level, and companies with strong direct-to-consumer platforms for national distribution, as well as deep pockets, will have the advantage. Nollen said the amounts streamers like Netflix and Comcast's Peacock are bidding for limited NFL rights raise the likelihood the league will exercise its opt-out clause in the 11-year rights deal it signed in 2021 with CBS, Fox, ESPN and NBC.

Comcast's spinning off its cable networks and digital assets is a clear signal the company is "exiting the cable business," Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners said Wednesday on CNBC. The spinoff, announced Wednesday, will include USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Syfy, E! and Golf Channel, along with digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Engine. Comcast said the publicly traded spinoff "will have significant scale" and its assets will be anchored by news, sports and entertainment content reaching close to 70 million U.S. households. Comcast said it expected the spinoff to take a year to complete. Comcast Chairman-CEO Brian Roberts said the spinoff "will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said NBCUniversal, with its NBC broadcast and streaming properties, including Peacock, as well as Bravo, Telemundo and its theme parks and film and TV studios, "will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent -- all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company.” Comcast said Mark Lazarus, NBCUniversal Media Group chairman, will be CEO of the spinoff, with Anand Kini, NBCU CFO, as its CFO-COO. “As a stand-alone company with these outstanding assets, we will be better positioned to serve our audiences and drive shareholder returns in this incredibly dynamic media environment across news, sports and entertainment,” Lazarus said. Greenfield said that while cable programming will be a long-tail business, the deal signals Comcast no longer sees it as a growth enterprise. He said there may be investor skepticism the spun-off networks can stand on their own and the spinoff will likely seek other cable networks it can add to build scale.

Comcast is considering spinning off its cable networks -- though not streamer Peacock or its broadcast assets -- into a separate, publicly traded company, President Mike Cavanagh said Thursday as Comcast announced Q3 financial results. In addition, he noted Comcast is open to streaming partnerships with Paramount Global. The company said that, absent the impact of the end of the affordable connectivity program (ACP), it would have been in the black with broadband net adds.