As the just completed Q4 earnings cycle for technology, telecom and media just showcased, EBITDA losses on direct-to-consumer tie directly to customer growth for subscription streaming, at least for the traditional media conglomerates. 

Among that grouping, only Comcast seems to have not lost its will to fight the Streaming Wars. 

Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong reiterated an earlier company prediction to equity analyst at a Deutsche Bank tech conference Monday morning that the company will  lose around $3 billion building Peacock in 2023, up from just over $2.5 billion in red ink last year. 

“It’s a costly pivot, and we’re right in the middle right now," Armstrong said regarding the conglomerate's transition to streaming. (The Penske Showbiz Trade Monopoly covered Monday's Deutsche Bank event virtually.)

"You’re adding a streaming service sub as you lose linear subs, and you’ve got it covered domestically," he added.  "Right now we’re in sort of a peak expense mode around funding this transition." 

As shown by the chart above (provided by LightShed Partners based on public data), Comcast's DTC losses steadily escalated throughout 2022, even as Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney markedly reduced red ink at the end of the year through aggressive cost-cutting initiatives. 

And in Q4, Disney experienced its first ever global subscriber loss for Disney Plus, which lost 2.4 million customers during the period. 

Warner Bros. Discovery, which had grown paid users by over 6 million pro forma for HBO Max and Discovery in the final three months of 2021, expanded total DTC subscribers by just 1.2 million in Q4 2022 at it trimmed DTC losses by nearly two-thirds.

For its part, Peacock doubled its paid users in 2022, adding around 5 million subscribers in the final three months of the year. 

Perhaps as closely as anyone, Comcast has tied Peacock to its broadcast and cable programming efforts, enabling cross-platform buying opportunities for advertisers and building brand awareness for NBC shows like new hit comedy reboot Night Court, which appear on both outlets. 

“We’re running the business in total," Armstrong said. "You've got the linear business, which is a very good business and a cash-flowing business that you want to protect, but [we’re] migrating to streaming.

“The good news is linear plus streaming is a growth business,” he added. 

Comcast said it promoted Jason Armstrong to chief financial officer, succeeding Mike Cavanagh, who was named president of the company in October.

Armstrong had been Comcast’s deputy CFO, overseeing the company’s treasury and finance functions. He also managed capital formation, capital allocation, credit management and investment management activities.

“Jason is ideally suited to be our next chief financial officer,” said Cavanagh. “He is a trusted voice in the financial community, has a great understanding of our company, and is well respected by our management team. Jason is already playing a pivotal role in shaping our long-term strategy and I couldn’t be more excited to partner with him going forward.”

Armstrong joined Comcast in 2014 after 13 years at Goldman Sachs.

“I’m incredibly honored to have this role and to work alongside Brian and Mike and this exceptional team,” Armstrong said. “Comcast’s leadership, culture, strong financial position and commitment to innovation and growth attracted me here nearly a decade ago and continue to drive my excitement about the opportunities ahead of us.” ■

The same day the company launched a major broadband initiative, Comcast executive VP, deputy chief financial officer and treasurer Jason Armstrong told an industry audience that while fixed wireless competition may be getting a lot of attention lately, the bigger threat to the cable business is coming from fiber broadband providers.

On Thursday, Comcast unveiled a multi-gig broadband strategy that will bring higher speeds and DOCSIS 4.0 capabilities to 50 million homes by the end of 2025. At the Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Armstrong said that the rollouts are further proof of Comcast’s broadband superiority.

Comcast’s broadband subscriber growth was flat in Q2, as the rest of the industry struggled with subscriber losses during the period. While there have been several factors attributed to the accelerated slowdown in cable broadband growth -- sluggish new home formation, minimal housing moves and the transition to a new federally subsidized program for low income families -- competition from both fixed wireless and fiber-based broadband providers have emerged as significant players. Fixed wireless access has gained momentum after T-Mobile reported adding 560,000 FWA customers in Q2 and yesterday Charter Communications CFO Jessica Fischer said while the technology hasn’t made a major dent in broadband growth, it is still a factor.

While Armstrong acknowledged fixed wireless, he saw fiber as a bigger threat. And he noted that during the period when fiber competition went from 0% to 40% of Comcast’s footprint, Comcast became the No. 1 broadband provider in America with 32 million customers, even adding 3 million subscribers during the pandemic.

“Dave [Watson, Comcast Cable CEO] and his team have had a terrific playbook against fiber,” Armstrong said. That will continue for the foreseeable future.”

But Armstrong was less concerned about fixed wireless, which he said is enjoying some popularity because of its low cost, but still falls short on speeds -- which average between 5 Megabits per second and 50 Mbps -- and reliability.

“Fixed wireless is newer. It’s new, it's national, a gross add equals a net add because there’s not any churn in the system, although there will be,” Armstrong said. “When you step back and say,  ‘longer term, how do we compete, how do we win?’ fiber is the real long-term competitor.

“Fixed wireless is clearly having its moment right now, but when you think about the product offering and the long term competitive  advantages, I think we feel great about our positioning,” he continued.

While he admitted that it is going to be more difficult to grow broadband subscribers in the current macro environment, Armstrong noted that Comcast has been down this road before. In 2017, the company’s largest competitor aggressively lowered its broadband prices, but Comcast held its ground, keeping its ARPU stable and subscriber growth rebounded the next year.

“You don’t chase disruption at the low end or the value conscious end of the base and disrupt the whole base by doing it,” Armstrong said. “...I think that’s the way you treat this.”

He also mentioned Comcast’s strong performance in wireless -- it added 317,000 Xfinity Mobile customers in Q2, its best Q2 ever -- and Business Services as growth drivers for the future.

“You add all this up and it tells you we have great growth runners in cable,” Armstrong said. "We absolutely have the ability to continue to grow that business.” ■ 

Comcast said Tuesday that Jason Armstrong has been promoted to deputy chief financial officer while also retaining his responsibilities as executive VP and treasurer. Armstrong will continue to report to company CFO Michael Cavanagh.

In a memo to employees Tuesday, Cavanagh said Armstrong will work with him and partner with the corporate finance and management teams at Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal and Sky to help drive strategy. Armstrong will continue to oversee Comcast’s corporate treasury functions and manage key initiatives and identify opportunities to collaborate across businesses. 

Armstrong has been with Comcast for nearly a decade, joining the company in 2014 as head of investor relations, after 14 years as a top equity analyst at Goldman Sachs covering the TMT space. He was named CFO of Sky in 2020, but returned to Comcast’s Philadelphia headquarters later that year as executive VP and treasurer, after his and his family’s full relocation to Sky’s U.K. offices was unexpectedly complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Jason is perfectly suited for this new role and I’m looking forward to working with him for years to come,” Cavanagh said in the memo. ”He has earned the respect of several generations of leaders at Comcast, and his experience and insights about our company, competition, and industry cannot be overstated. I have every confidence in Jason and believe that this new position will help create tremendous value for our continued growth.”

The full text of Cavanagh’s memo is here:

I am pleased to announce that Jason Armstrong has been promoted to Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Comcast Corporation. Jason will work with me and partner with corporate finance and the management teams at Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky to help lead our finance organization and drive our strategy. He will continue to oversee Treasury, manage key initiatives, and identify opportunities to further collaborate across our businesses.   

Jason’s contributions to Comcast are significant.  He has been a trusted partner and advisor to senior leadership for nearly a decade.  In that time, his roles have included head of Investor Relations and Treasurer for Comcast Corporation, and Chief Financial Officer for Sky.  He joined Comcast in 2014 after a remarkable career as a leading analyst covering technology, media, and telecommunications at Goldman Sachs.   

Jason is perfectly suited for this new role and I’m looking forward to working with him for years to come.  He has earned the respect of several generations of leaders at Comcast, and his experience and insights about our company, competition, and industry cannot be overstated. I have every confidence in Jason and believe that this new position will help create tremendous value for our continued growth.  

Please join me in congratulating Jason! 

Mike  ■

Longtime Comcast investor relations chief Jason Armstrong will return to the cable company’s Philadelphia headquarters following a brief stint in London as chief financial officer of the company’s Sky operation. 

“He and his family’s full relocation to Sky headquarters in the United Kingdom was unexpectedly complicated by the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic,” a Comcast press release stated. 

Also read: Ryvicker Named Comcast SVP Investor Relations

Armstrong has been given the position of executive VP and treasurer, replacing the retiring Bill Dordelman. Sky has named 23-year company veteran Simon Robson as deputy chief financial officer. 

Armstrong will oversee Comcast’s, NBCUniversal’s, and Sky’s relationships with financial institutions and manage the company’s capital formation, capital allocation, credit-related matter and investment management activities.

“I’m excited to have Jason back on the senior team at our corporate headquarters,” said Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh, to whom Armstrong will report.  “I look forward to him leading our Treasury group, which does an excellent job managing our strategic financing activities across the company.”

In January, long-time media analyst Marci Ryvicker was named senior VP of investor relations at Comcast, replacing Armstrong, who was promoted to group CFO at the company’s British satellite unit, Sky.

Comcast said it has named former Sky chief financial officer Jason Armstrong executive vice president and treasurer, replacing Bill Dordelman who is retiring on July 1.

Armstrong has been CFO of Sky since the beginning of the year, and Comcast said that he and his family’s full relocation to Sky headquarters in the U.K. was unexpectedly complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Armstrong will now remain at Comcast’s Philadelphia headquarters and Sky deputy CFO Simon Robson, who has been with Sky for 23 years, will become CFO of that unit.

As treasurer, Armstrong will oversee Comcast’s, NBCUniversal’s, and Sky’s relationships with financial institutions and manage the company’s capital formation, capital allocation, credit-related matters, and investment management activities. He will report to Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh.

“I’m excited to have Jason back on the senior team at our corporate headquarters,” Cavanagh said in a press release. “I look forward to him leading our Treasury group, which does an excellent job managing our strategic financing activities across the company.”

Armstrong had been Comcast's SVP of Investor Relations and Finance for six years before taking the Sky position. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs where he served as managing director, deputy business unit leader of its Technology, Media and Telecommunications Research Group. He was also lead analyst for  the North American Communications Services Equity Research Group with principal coverage of the  cable, satellite, telecommunication services, wireless towers, and data centers industries.

Long-time media analyst Marci Ryvicker has been named SVP of Investor Relations at Comcast, replacing Jason Armstrong, who was promoted to Group Chief Financial Officer at the company’s British satellite unit, Sky.

Ryvicker will report to Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh.

“Marci has tremendous expertise in the media, technology, cable, and broadcast industries, and is one of the most well-known and highly-respected analysts on Wall Street,” Cavanagh said in a press release. “I look forward to her bringing her leadership and talents to our strong investor relations and finance teams, which do a terrific job communicating our company strategy to the analyst and shareholder communities.”

Ryvicker, who will assume her new position in mid-January, was most recently managing director at Wolfe Research. She has previously spent 16 years as the senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, where during her tenure she was ranked as the top research analyst in its internal client and sales polls between 2012-2018. Ryvicker began her career as a certified public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC.