Comcast shows Q3 progress, deal rumors linger

Cable TV giant Comcast displayed a stiffened stance in the third quarter against encroaching telco competition, reporting quarterly earnings that suggested growing revenue per household and an improved success rate selling multi-play service bundles. The company lost 132,000 basic video subscribers during the quarter, which continues a trend, but it added 361,000 broadband Internet customers and 375,000 telephony subs, far more in both cases than some analysts had anticipated.

The number of customers with bundled video, broadband Internet and voice telephony grew about 3.4 percent from the same quarter last year to 46,821, while the digital video customer base grew 7.4 percent over the same period to 18,005. Monthly revenue per video customer was up about 5.6 percent to $116.91.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said nothing specific during the company's earnings call about ongoing speculation that Comcast is near striking a deal to acquire a control stake in NBC Universal. Some published reports have suggested a deal could come within a week, and that a likely deal structure could involve Comcast taking a 51 percent stake in the programming giant, with general Electric holding the remaining 49 percent.

For more:
- ABC News has the Reuters story

Related articles
Comcast reportedly is pursuing an IPTV project
Comcast early last month said no NBC deal was in place