What Management Said
Read the full Q1 2026 transcript ↗Second, in Parks, another area of consistent and disciplined investment, we generated healthy underlying EBITDA growth driven by robust consumer demand at Epic Universe. We continue to see our customers consume more video online, which is driving network demand higher with monthly data usage on our network up 10% this quarter. That scale drove record advertising sales, roughly $2 billion over the 17 days, and helped accelerate momentum at Peacock. We added 2 million net new subscribers in the quarter, with revenue up more than 70%, putting Peacock on track to approach profitability for the first time next quarter.
Peacock streamed a record 16.7 billion minutes, more than double all prior Winter Games combined. In the first quarter, revenue increased 11%, in part benefiting from NBCUniversal's highly successful airing of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. We continue to execute our broadband go-to-market pivot and customer experience improvements with the goal of stabilizing our customer base and returning the category to revenue growth over time. Earnings per share were $0.79, and we generated $3.9 billion of free cash flow in the quarter, of which we returned $2.5 billion to shareholders, including $1.25 billion in share repurchases.
Our convergence ARPA, or average revenue per account, currently stands at roughly $85. This really underscores the significant growth opportunity in front of us, especially as we stabilize broadband and look to accelerate growth through wireless. Convergence revenue declined 2.8%, with convergence ARPA down 0.8%, reflecting the pressure on broadband revenue and partially offset by 15% growth in wireless service revenue. We added 435,000 net wireless lines, our strongest quarter on record, with nearly half of our residential postpaid phone connects coming from customers taking a free line.
What went well
- Broadband net losses improved by more than 100,000 (117,000) year-over-year to 65,000, the first year-over-year improvement since the fourth quarter of 2020.
- The company delivered the best wireless net additions of any quarter in its history, adding 435,000 net lines and reaching 9.7 million total lines at 16% penetration of the domestic residential broadband base.
- Legendary February drove record advertising sales of roughly $2 billion over 17 days, with more than 225 million Americans watching across the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX, and the NBA All-Star Game.
- Peacock added 2 million net new subscribers to reach 46 million with revenue up more than 70%, putting it on track to approach profitability for the first time next quarter.
- Theme parks delivered revenue up 24% and EBITDA up 33%, with very strong growth in Orlando from Epic driving higher per-cap spending and attendance.
- The company generated $3.9 billion of free cash flow and returned $2.5 billion to shareholders, including $1.25 billion in share repurchases.
What went wrong
- Adjusted EBITDA declined 9%, reflecting the broadband investment period and peak dilution from the first year of the new NBA contract.
- Connectivity and platforms EBITDA declined 4.7% as simplified pricing and bundled free wireless lines pressured broadband ARPU.
- Broadband ARPU declined 3.1%, reflecting the absence of a rate increase, new go-to-market pricing including Legendary February offers, and dilution from strong free wireless line adoption.
- Media EBITDA was a loss of $426 million, consistent with the expected first-season NBA dilution, with Q1 representing peak EBITDA dilution as about 50% of games were played; Peacock EBITDA losses were $432 million.
- International parks faced pressure, with Osaka impacted by China-related inbound travel trends and Beijing navigating a more challenging macroeconomic environment.
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Broadband ARPU | Q2 2026 | Incremental pressure for another quarter until anniversarying go-to-market efforts and free-line monetization (Continued pressure) |
| Connectivity & Platforms EBITDA | Through exit of 2026 | Some incremental Q2 pressure, then relief as initial investment pressures are lapped and free lines monetize (Pressured then improving) |
| Free wireless line monetization | Second half of 2026 | Expect to convert the significant majority of free lines into paying relationships, a tailwind to convergence revenue and ARPA (Upcoming tailwind) |
| Peacock profitability | Q2 2026 | On track to approach profitability for the first time (Improving) |
| NBA EBITDA dilution | Remainder of 2026 | Q1 was peak dilution; eases over the rest of the year (Past peak) |
| Simplified packaging migration | By year-end 2026 | Majority still expected to migrate to simple, transparent packaging by year-end (Ongoing) |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | +11% (low-single-digits ex-Olympics/Super Bowl) | Benefit from NBCUniversal's Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and Super Bowl airings |
| Adjusted EBITDA | -9% | Broadband investment period plus peak dilution from first year of the NBA contract |
| Earnings per share | $0.79 (absolute) | Reported figure for the quarter |
| Connectivity & Platforms EBITDA | -4.7% | Simplified pricing and bundled free wireless lines pressuring broadband ARPU |
| Broadband ARPU | -3.1% | No rate increase, new go-to-market pricing (incl. Legendary February offers), and free wireless line dilution |
| Convergence revenue | -2.8% | Broadband revenue pressure partially offset by 15% wireless service revenue growth |
| Theme parks revenue | +24% | Strong Orlando growth from Epic |
| Theme parks EBITDA | +33% (≈+7% adjusting for ~$100M prior-year pre-opening costs) | Epic driving per-cap spending and attendance |
| Media revenue | +60%+ (+13% ex-events) | Milan-Cortina Olympics and Super Bowl drove $2.2B incremental revenue; Peacock distribution up 21%, advertising up 5% |
| Business services revenue | +6% | Strong momentum at enterprise solutions adding customers and advanced solutions |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband competition | Intense | Remains intense; fixed wireless aggressive, fiber overbuild rapid, satellite getting more promotional | Stable (elevated) |
| Broadband net losses | 181,000 loss in Q4 | 65,000 loss, improved 117,000 YoY (first YoY improvement since Q4 2020) | Improving |
| Wireless net adds | 364,000 in Q4 | Record 435,000 | Accelerating |
| Broadband ARPU | +1.1% in Q4 | -3.1% | Declining |
| Peacock | 44-46M subs, narrowing losses | 46M subs, revenue +70%, approaching profitability next quarter | Improving |
Q&A Summary
How much lower might broadband ARPU have to go to maintain stabilization, and where did the improvement come from (FWA, fiber, or all of the above)?
Steve Croney said ARPU pressure intensifies early in the year with incremental Q2 pressure and relief by year-end, driven by no rate increase, free wireless lines, and migration to simplified pricing; offsets include gig-plus mix shift, record mobile attach, free-line conversion, and new premium products. The company saw benefit across all competitive environments with both connects and disconnects improving, though Jason Armstrong noted a little over half the improvement was tied to Legendary February investment.
Can you expand on wireless success moving into larger families, simplifying customer migration, and whether reduced carrier subsidies help your hit rate?
Steve Croney said Comcast has the right to compete and win with two MVNOs, the largest converged footprint, 90% XM traffic offload, and lower acquisition costs; Q1 was the largest line net-add quarter since launch with ~30% of net adds from existing mobile customers and ~50% free lines. The company competes primarily on price and value, using subsidies selectively, and the new Mobile Plus plan with included device protection should aid premium upsell and conversion. Mike Cavanagh added it has been a steady multi-year compounding effect now fully competitive at the high end.
If half the broadband sub improvement was from Legendary February and half organic, can we expect full-year high-speed data losses to improve versus last year, and what are your thoughts on cable consolidation and the regulatory framework?
Steve Croney said the company does expect year-over-year improvement, but more than half of the Q1 benefit was tied to Legendary February. Brian Roberts said he is pleased with the team's energy, believes the broadband business has been corrected with too much negativity, and that while the bar for value-creating deals is high, he likes the company's direction and does not want distraction; Mike Cavanagh added the company is undervalued, plan A is running the play, and it is open to partnerships around video or mobile.
How are you allocating capital across NBCU assets (Universal Studios, Peacock, theme parks) and what gives you confidence returns become more visible, and will Peacock be consistently profitable?
Mike Cavanagh said NBCUniversal is set up well post-Versant with Parks, Studios, and Media each positioned to grow; capital will be recycled into parks above cost of capital, studios are off to a great start with Mario, and the media business pairs NBC broadcast with Peacock. He said Peacock should approach profitability in Q2 and, as the NBA laps itself via straight-line amortization, the company has its sights set on ongoing durable profitability.
Can you compare the fixed wireless learnings versus satellite learnings, and could satellite change how regulators view the market and larger cable M&A?
Steve Croney said the assumption is the market stays highly competitive with fiber, fixed wireless, and now satellite getting more promotional; Comcast focuses on what it controls with a network on par with fiber that exceeds capacity-constrained fixed wireless and satellite, price-value via free wireless lines, number-one-ranked Wi-Fi reliability, and customer experience improvements. Brian Roberts said the company will reevaluate the market and technology as it has for 50 years, and the first order of business is executing well.
What have you seen in the free wireless line roll-offs to date that gives confidence in conversion, and could the wireless monetization strategy also help broadband ARPU stabilize later this year?
Steve Croney said the rollout is early but in the early cohorts a significant majority of customers are rolling to paid, and he expects that to continue as more lines roll in the back half of the year. He confirmed it will have a direct positive impact on broadband ARPU through revenue recognition as those lines roll to paid in the back half, providing a tailwind.
More on Comcast Corp
Reported 2026-04-23 · figures from the Comcast Corp Q1 2026 earnings call.
See how Top Bucket AI works for your firm
Request DemoTop Bucket AI Research
Stay ahead of private markets
Research and market intelligence for private-markets professionals.
✓
You're subscribed.
Thanks for signing up.