Comcast
Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings, is an American multinational mass media, telecommunications, and entertainment conglomerate. Comcast’s corporate headquarters is at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia, while NBCUniversal, Comcast’s New York operations and other major Comcast assets is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was ranked 51st in the Forbes Global 2000 in 2023. It is the fourth-largest telecommunications company by worldwide revenue, after AT&T, Verizon, and China Mobile. Comcast is the third-largest pay-TV company, the second-largest cable TV company by subscribers, and the largest home Internet service provider in the United States.
It owns and operates the Xfinity residential cable communications business segment and division; Comcast Business, a commercial services provider; and Xfinity Mobile, an MVNO of Verizon Communications. The company is also the nation's third-largest home telephone service provider, serving residential and commercial customers in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
Comcast has owned NBCUniversal, which is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and its various mass media subsidiaries since 2013. It is a high-volume producer of films for theatrical exhibition and television programming through its film studios: Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination, and Focus Features. Its over-the-air national broadcast network channels include the National Broadcasting Company, Spanish-language channels Telemundo, TeleXitos, and Universo, television stations like Cozi TV, and pay-TV channel Bravo. It formerly owned multiple cable-only channels such as MS NOW, CNBC, USA Network, Syfy, Oxygen True Crime, and E! until its spin-off to a company called Versant in 2026. NBCUniversal also works in news and sports, bolstered by its 1996 acquisition of professional sports company Spectacor. It owns the video-on-demand streaming service Peacock; its holdings in digital distribution include thePlatform, acquired in 2006; and ad-tech company FreeWheel, acquired in 2014. Comcast has been the parent company of Sky Group since 2018, when it dropped out of the running to buy 21st Century Fox, Sky's then-largest shareholder, and instead acquired the company from Fox and other shareholders. The company also operates theme parks under its Universal Destinations & Experiences subsidiary.
Comcast is criticized and put under intense public scrutiny for a variety of reasons. Its customer satisfaction ratings were among the lowest in the cable industry from 2008 to 2010. It has violated net neutrality practices; it has offered a commitment to a narrow definition of net neutrality that critics say ignores the difference between Comcast's private network services and the rest of the Internet. Critics also note a lack of competition in the vast majority of Comcast's service areas; in particular, the limited competition among cable providers. Given its negotiating power as a large ISP, some suspect that it could use paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end-user connection speeds. Comcast's ownership of both content production and distribution has raised antitrust concerns that scuttled the company's 2014 effort to acquire Time Warner Cable. Comcast was dubbed "The Worst Company in America" by The Consumerist in 2010 and 2014.
History
American Cable Systems
In 1963, Ralph J. Roberts in conjunction with his two business partners, Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky, purchased American Cable Systems as a corporate spin-off from its parent, Jerrold Electronics, for U.S. $500,000. At the time, American Cable was a small cable operator in Tupelo, Mississippi, with five channels and 12,000 customers. In 1965, American Cable Systems purchased Storecast Corporation of America, a product placement supermarket specialist marketing firm. In 1968, American Cable Systems purchased its first franchise of Muzak, a brand of background music played in retail stores. Storecast was a client of Muzak.Comcast
The company was re-incorporated in Pennsylvania on March 5, 1969, under the new name Comcast Corporation. Comcast's initial public offering occurred on June 29, 1972, on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System, a then-recently established stock exchange, with a market capitalization of U.S. $3,010,000. In 1977, HBO was first launched on a Comcast system with 20,000 customers in western Pennsylvania with a five-night free preview getting a 15% sign up rate. In 1986, Comcast bought 26% of Group W Cable, a broadcast company, doubling its number of subscribers to 1 million. Also that year, Comcast made a founding investment of $380 million in QVC. In 1988, Comcast was able to buy a 50% share of SCI Holdings in a joint deal with Tele-Communications Inc. Comcast also acquired American Cellular Network Corporation in 1988 for $230 million, marking the first time it became a mobile phone operator.Increasing market share (1990–2001)
In February 1990, Ralph Roberts' son, Brian L. Roberts, succeeded his father as president of Comcast. Ralph Roberts established The Comcast Fund, a foundation that supports innovative ideas and research in technology and public policy. Daniel Aaron retired, although he remained on the company's board. Two years later, the company's mobile division, Comcast Cellular, purchased a controlling interest in Metromedia's Philadelphia-area cellular telephone interests, Metrophone. By 1994, Comcast owned 50% stock in the cable communications company Garden State Cable, who by that year were serving approximately 195,000 subscribers. That same year, Comcast became the third-largest cable operator in the United States, with around 3.5 million subscribers following its purchase of Maclean-Hunter's American division for $1.27 billion. Comcast grew to 4.3 million subscribers the following year with the purchase of the cable operation of E. W. Scripps Company for $1.575 billion in stock.Comcast offered internet connection for the first time in 1996, with its part in the launch of the @Home Network. Also in 1996, Comcast formed Comcast Spectacor, which became owner of the Philadelphia Flyers. In 1997, Microsoft invested $1 billion in Comcast, and the company launched its digital television service. That same year, in partnership with The Walt Disney Company, Comcast got a 50.1% controlling interest in E! Entertainment. By December 31, 1997, it was available in the Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Orange County, California, Sarasota and Union, New Jersey areas.
Comcast's cable acquisitions in 1997 were Jones Intercable, Inc. with 1 million customers, and a stake in Prime Communications with 430,000 subscribers. In February 1998, Comcast sold its U.K. division to NTL for US$600 million, along with the division's $397 million in debt. In 1999, Comcast sold Comcast Cellular to SBC Communications for $400 million, releasing them from $1.27 billion in debt. Also in 1999, Comcast acquired Greater Philadelphia Cablevision, and launched Comcast University as well as Comcast Interactive Capital Group.
In November 1999, Comcast purchased Lenfest Communications, who were the ninth largest cable television operator at the time and were the largest operator in the Philadelphia area. This consolidated Comcast's control over all of the Philadelphia region, and earned them approximately 1.3 million additional cable subscribers. The purchase of Lenfest also bought Comcast the remaining 50% stock of the cable operator Garden State Communications — a company whom Comcast had already owned half of in partnership with Lenfest for years. Comcast quickly replaced the ten-year general manager at Garden State with their own executive, and eventually Garden State ceased operating under its own name and was fully merged to become a part of the Comcast Corporation.
Largest American cable provider (2001–present)
In 2001, Comcast announced it would acquire the assets of the largest cable television operator at the time, AT&T Broadband, for $44.5 billion. The proposed name for the merged company was "AT&T Comcast", but the companies ultimately decided to keep only the Comcast name, with the company and new assets reincorporated in Pennsylvania on December 7, 2001. On November 18, 2002, Comcast officially acquired all assets of AT&T Broadband, thus making Comcast the largest cable television company in the United States with over 22 million subscribers. This spurred the start of Comcast Advertising Sales which would later be renamed Comcast Spotlight and now effectv, A Comcast Company. As part of this acquisition, Comcast also acquired the National Digital Television Center in Centennial, Colorado as a wholly owned subsidiary, now known as the Comcast Media Center. In 2003, Comcast became one of the original investors in The Golf Channel. After Excite@Home went bankrupt in October 2001, Comcast took over providing internet directly to consumers in January 2002.On February 11, 2004, Comcast announced a $54 billion bid for Disney, including taking on $12 billion of Disney's debt. The deal would have made Comcast the largest media conglomerate in the world. However, after rejection by Disney and uncertain response from investors, the bid was abandoned in April. In 2004, Comcast sold its QVC shares to Liberty Media for $7.9 billion.
On April 8, 2005, a partnership led by Comcast and Sony Pictures Entertainment finalized a deal to acquire MGM and its affiliate studio, United Artists, and created an additional outlet to carry MGM/UA's material for cable and Internet distribution. On October 31, 2005, Comcast officially announced that it had acquired Susquehanna Communications, a South Central Pennsylvania-based cable television and broadband services provider and unit of the former Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff company, for $775 million cash. Comcast previously owned approximately 30% of Susquehanna Communications through its affiliate company, Lenfest. In December 2005, Comcast announced the creation of Comcast Interactive Media, a new division focused on online media.
In July 2006, Comcast purchased the Seattle-based software company thePlatform. This represented an entry into a new line of business—selling software to allow companies to manage their Internet media publishing efforts.
On April 3, 2007, Comcast announced it would acquire the cable systems owned and operated by Patriot Media, a privately held company owned by cable veteran Steven J. Simmons, Spectrum Equity Investors and Spire Capital, that served approximately 81,000 video subscribers for $483 million.
Comcast announced in May 2007 and launched in September 2008 a dashboard called SmartZone that allowed users to perform mobile functions online. There was also Cloudmark spam and phishing protection and Trend Micro antivirus. The address book is Comcast Plaxo software.
In May 2008, Comcast purchased Plaxo for a reported $150 million to $170 million.
Comcast won the Consumerist Worst Company In America award in 2010. A gold trophy in the shape of a pile of human feces was delivered to Comcast Corporate Headquarters to commemorate the unmatched level of enmity flowing from their customer base to their business. Comcast responded immediately by publicly acknowledging the dubious award and citing ongoing efforts to improve its customer service. One effort to change this is a new app called Tech ETA that allows customers to see exactly when a technician is coming.
On 21 May 2024, Comcast announced Xfinity StreamSaver™, a streaming bundle combining Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ for Xfinity Internet and TV customers. This bundle offered a subscription to Netflix Standard with ads, Peacock Premium, and Apple TV+, promising over 30% savings or nearly $100 annually.