Comcast (CMCSA -5.75%) isn't expecting its cable subscription trends to improve any time soon. The media giant's management team said at an investor conference this week that declines in that part of the business should continue at about the same pace as shareholders saw in the prior quarter for the second quarter and into the second half of fiscal 2020.
Those comments imply a continued drop of around 2% in each of the next few quarters, consistent with the 388,000 losses Comcast announced back in April. That figure was up sharply from the 107,000 customer losses a year ago, due to consumers trending toward online streaming services. Comcast also implemented a price increase on its core cable package.
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Comcast is more than offsetting those losses with big gains in high-speed internet service, so its overall base of customer households is increasing. Management sees plenty of room for additional market share gains here, too. "We're optimistic that we've got years of runway of ability to add" internet customers, CFO Michael Cavanagh said.
Investors will get official updates on these metrics, along with the direct impact of COVID-19 closures on its parks and movies businesses, when Comcast announces second-quarter results on July 30.
