The Walt Disney Co.’s $8.61 billion check to acquire Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu arrived on Friday, and Comcast president Mike Cavanagh told a UBS media investor conference in New York Monday morning (December 4) he expects there to be more money from the Hulu divesture coming in following an ongoing process to properly value the platform. 

The “check cleared, it’s in the account,” Cavanagh said. “We expect, and certainly hope to get, more than that once the process ends. But it’s really just the beginning.”

The payment, initial or final, is timely, given Cavanagh's disclosure that Comcast and its NBCUniversal media division will lose $2.8 billion on building streaming assets in 2023. Cavanagh told investors that he believes those losses have peaked. 

Notably, NBCUniversal now counts 30 million subscribers for its flagship streaming service, Peacock — more than three times as many paying customers as the platform had two years ago. 

“Our primary focus is to figure out domestic and make sure that we continue to have the reach and relevance between linear and digital as we look several years down the road,” Cavanagh said. 

At a time when several of NBCU’s peers have had the will to endure the heavy losses needed to build scale in emerging platforms, Cavanagh and his team seem to have their feet under them. Comcast shares were up more than 2% at the time this sentence was typed. 

“We disclose what we ‘lose’ in Peacock for clarity, and it’s going to peak this year at $2.8 billion of losses,” Cavanaugh said. “But don’t forget the counternarrative of, what would it all look like if we weren’t trying at Peacock? You’d be asking a different set of questions, which is, where are the linear businesses going if you’re not trying to figure out a future for the powerful platforms you have?”

NBCUniversal is being restructured into four units by Mike Cavanagh, president of parent company Comcast, who has been running the division since CEO Jeff Shell was dismissed in April.

The biggest change is the consolidation of NBCU’s studio and content businesses for film and television under Donna Langley, who was named chairman, NBCUniversal Studio Group and chief content officer.

Susan Rovner, who had been chairman, entertainment content for NBCU Television and streaming, will be leaving the company.

“Donna has been shaping the cultural conversation and creating the framework for what a modern-day studio can accomplish through bold content, impactful marketing and business model innovation,” Cavanagh said in a memo to staff Thursday. “She will leverage her longstanding relationships with the creative community and ability to partner with the most prolific storytellers in our business to unlock a seamless cross-portfolio creative strategy including programming, distribution and marketing across film, television and streaming,”

In his memo, Cavanagh said he intends to continue to lead NBCU and will not name a new CEO, while continuing as president of Comcast.

As part of the reorganization, Mark Lazarus becomes chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, overseeing the company’s television networks, direct-to-consumer businesses including Peacock, NBC Sports Group and NBC affiliate relations. Lazarus will also permanently oversee ad sales, with interim ad sales chairman Mark Marshall reporting to him, as will the content distribution operation, headed by Matt Bond.

Reporting to both Langley and Lazarus is Frances Berwick, who was named chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment. “Frances will add original content across broadcast, cable and Peacock to her current responsibilities running our linear entertainment networks,” Cavanagh said.

Cesar Conde expands his role as chairman, NBCUniversal News Group, and will oversee NBCU Local, which continues to report to Valari Staab, and the NBCU Telemundo Enterprises Group, headed by Beau Ferrari.

Mark Woodbury will continue to be chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences.

“Over the past couple of months, I’ve been inspired by our people,” Cavanagh said. “Individuals at all levels of the company have stepped up, filled voids and enabled NBCU to continue operating seamlessly. We have not missed a beat. I’m grateful to the entire leadership team for the stability and strength they bring to this company.“

The company is pursuing the right business strategy and is well positioned as a part of Comcast, he added.

“Our ability to take advantage of being one company sets us apart,” he said. “First, the diversity of businesses within NBCU strengthens each other. Symphony — and the philosophy that we are better together — is core to how we operate. We also have the strength and benefit of being part of Comcast. We have $120 billion in revenue, the majority of which is in growth categories, including broadband, wireless, business services, parks, streaming and studios, and this is growing nearly 10% year over year. And we have the strongest balance sheet in the industry. Together this gives us the capacity to continue investing in our future. Our position of strength is an advantage for every part of this company.”

Cavanagh acknowledged that trends including cord-cutting and competition from big tech companies present challenges to NBCU. “But I firmly believe that we have the business strategy, management depth, and financial strength to emerge as long-term winners and value creators as the media landscape evolves,” he said.

The NBCU leadership team will also include: Kimberley Harris, executive VP of Comcast Corp. and general counsel of NBCUniversal; Anand Kini, executive VP, corporate strategy, Comcast Corp. and chief financial officer, NBCUniversal; Adam Miller, executive VP, NBCUniversal, who oversees communications, human resources, operations and technology; and Craig Robinson, executive VP and chief diversity officer.

Comcast said it signed a new employment agreement with recently named president Michael Cavanagh that runs through December 31, 2027.

According to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, the deal calls for Cavanagh to receive an annual base salary of $2.5 million, effective March 1, 2023.

Cavanagh also gets a special performance-based option to purchase 2 million shares of Comcast Class A common stock, valued at $14.8 million. 

The performance award is based on average annual growth in free cash flow over five years. If free cash flow grows 8%, Cavanagh gets 100% of the award. If growth is 6%, he gets 50%. The maximum award -- 200% -- would come if growth is at least 12%.

“The Performance Award is designed to ensure leadership continuity over the longer term, enhance retention in response to increasing competition for high-performing talent and incent company financial performance by aligning compensation with rigorous performance targets that drive long-term shareholder value creation,” Comcast said in the filing. “The company believes that FCF per share is an important metric which measures, among other things, cash remaining after capital investments that allows us to repay indebtedness, make strategic investments and return capital to shareholders.”

Cavanagh received total compensation of $27.4 million in 2021, including $10.1 million in stock awards. ■

Comcast said chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh has been promoted to president, working with chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.

Cavanagh will remain as Comcast's CFO, a position he has held since joining the company seven years ago.

"Today's promotion will come as no surprise — Mike is admired and trusted by those who know and work with him," Roberts said. "Mike has brought incredible operational and financial expertise to Comcast and is an integral part of our special company. He's an outstanding partner and together we are focused on continuing to create new and exciting opportunities for growth."

The promotion comes at a time when media companies, Comcast included, are getting downgraded by Wall Street because of the crumbing of the traditional pay television business. Comcast is also seen as a mixed bag as the industry turns to streaming. It is one of the largest providers of broadband, but subscriber growth has slowed. Its NBCUniversal unit's Peacock streaming service is an also-ran behind Disney Plus and Netflix, which could mean the company needs to make an acquisition to become a player.

Before joining Comcast, Cavanagh was co-president and co-chief operating officer of The Carlyle Group. Previously he was co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase's corporate and investment bank from 2012 to 2014.

"It's an honor to work with Brian to lead this great company," Cavanagh said. "We have exceptional businesses with world-class executives in [Sky Group CEO] Dana [Strong], [Comcast Cable president and CEO] Dave [Watson] and [NBCUniversal CEO] Jeff [Shell] and I’m proud to call them my partners. I look forward to working together to shape the bright future of Comcast." ■

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts got a 4% raise in 2021, with total compensation of $34 million, fueled mainly by a 27% gain in stock awards for the year.

Roberts’ annual salary actually dipped 5% to $3.2 million from $3.4 million in the prior year, but a 27% increase in stock awards -- from $10.6 million to $13.5 million -- helped lift the media chief’s total compensation for the year.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who oversees the company’s content unit, including its streaming service Peacock, got the biggest lift in total compensation -- 30% -- as his 2021 haul rose to $21.6 million from $16.5 million in the prior year. Shell also saw a slight decline in salary, by 4% to $2.5 million, while a 48.6% increase in stock awards (to $5.5 million from $3.7 million) and a 67% increase in the value of his nonequity incentive plan compensation (to $9.9 million from $5.9 million) more than made up the difference. 

Peacock ended 2021 with 24.5 million monthly active users, about three-quarters of the way towards its 2024 goal of 30 million to 35 million users. The streamer said it would double its content spend in 2022 to $3 billion. NBCUniversal as a whole saw revenue rise 26% in 2021 to $34.3 billion.  

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson made $22.7 million in 2021, a 15.5% increase over the prior year. Watson’s salary rose 10% for the year to $2.2 million from $2 million, but the biggest increase came in stock awards (60% to $6.7 million) and a 51% increase in nonequity incentive plan compensation ($8.9 million from $5.9 million). 

Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh’s total compensation rose 8.3% for the year to $27.4 million, including $10.1 million in stock awards (a 44% increase) and $8.6 million in nonequity incentive plan compensation. ■

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  ■

The theory that the recent spike in fiber builds by telcos, coupled with lower prices for 5G and broadband products will pull cable companies into an ever-descending vortex of spending and price-cutting — the so-called Convergence Apocalypse theory — could be one of the reasons for the rapid decline of both telco and cable stocks in the past few months. But in a research note Thursday, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett said that despite the threat of telco fiber overbuilds, cable still has a clear advantage.

Cable stocks have been hit hard as investors have been thrown into a tizzy after two top companies warned of slower than expected broadband subscriber growth in the third quarter. The first tremor was  caused by Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh on Sept. 14, when he told a virtual audience at the Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment conference that the cable operator was seeing a “little bit” of a slowdown in broadband subscriber adds in late August. Comcast stock fell more than 7% that day and the rest of the sector — Charter Communications, Altice USA and Cable One — saw their shares dip between 3% and 4%. 

The real impact came a few weeks later, when Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said at the virtual Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference on Sept. 23 that broadband additions would  be negative in Q3 — to the tune of 15,000 to 20,000 in subscriber losses — blamed in part on what he said was a sluggish back-to-school period. 

Also Read: How Slow Will The Broadband Slowdown Be? 

Altice USA stock fell 13% to $22.06 per share on that day, and has had a steady decline ever since, closing at $17.62 each on Oct. 13. Other stocks like Charter Comcast and Cable One also felt the pain, as analysts began to rethink their models to account for what they saw as an accelerated slowdown in growth. At the same time, some analysts were rejiggering their outlooks on telco stocks, especially those that have made commitments to expand their fiber networks like AT&T, Verizon Communications and Frontier Communications. 

Also Read: Analyst Says Telcos Better Positioned to Chip Away at Cable’s Broadband Lead

In a research note Thursday, Moffett wrote that both the cable and telecom sectors are getting crushed in the market. Cable distribution stocks are down 16.8% since Sept. 1 and telco stocks like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Frontier and Lumen Technologies have fallen a collective 10.5%, mainly due to the belief that as telcos build out more fiber and lower prices for broadband, cable subscriber additions will suffer. Conversely, as cable companies drop prices for wireless service, as Comcast did it in August and Charter did earlier this week, that will lead to a long-term slide in telco wireless customers. 

“In this dystopian converged future, there are no winners,” Moffett wrote. “There is only mutually assured destruction.”

But like any other good conspiracy theory, there is some truth to the thesis — telcos are expanding fiber builds and cable operators are dropping wireless prices — and some not so truthful assumptions. For example, Moffett believes that “Convergence Apocalypse” adherents are forgetting a few key components of the thesis, particularly timing and coverage. 

According to Moffett, telcos have targeted an incremental 5 million homes with fiber overbuilds this year, or about 4% of the country. Next year that effort will expand to an additional seven million homes, or 5% of the U.S. By Moffett’s estimates, the percentage of cable plant overbuilt by fiber will grow from 30% currently to about 55% in the next decade. 

“The delays in passing a home, subsequently making the broadband service available for sale, and then actually connecting it, make clear that the competitive impact of this year’s tranche of homes newly passed will only begin to be felt next year, and even then only modestly (we’ve heard arguments that Comcast’s warning of “a little bit of a slowdown” in their Q3 numbers is an early sign of the new fiber overbuilds, but that is not remotely plausible),” Moffett wrote. “And recall that new homes passed in 2020 were the lowest in a decade; it will be at least a few more years before the rolling average of homes passed over the trailing four years or so is meaningfully above average.”

Moffett believes the immediate impact will be on wireless, as cable’s ability to bundle mobile and broadband service at lower prices has the potential to take significant share from the telcos. 

Cable can offer broadband throughout its footprint and wireless on a national scale. Telcos are limited in terms of bundling on which parts of the country they offer fiber broadband. For Verizon, that’s about two-thirds of its footprint or 11% of the country and for AT&T, about one-third of its footprint or 13% of the U.S. T-Mobile, Moffett wrote, has no fiber at all. 

What has been holding  cable wireless back in the past has been pricing, but that changed six months ago when Comcast dropped its family wireless plans to $30 per line per month for four lines or more of unlimited service. Charter introduced its new pricing -- $29.99 per month per line for two or more lines of unlimited service -- and it could be a game changer for the company.

Also Read: Analyst Says It’s Time to Take Cable Wireless Seriously 

According to Moffett, both the Comcast and Charter wireless plans are cheaper than those of AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile, although the traditional telcos offer steep handset discounts the cable companies do not. But that is likely to change.

And then there is the cost.

According to Moffett, telcos are spending up-front, at-risk incremental dollars for their fiber builds, so in order to get return on that investment, they will have to achieve high penetration rates and high average revenue per customer. And while payback periods are typically between six and 10 years, if they fail to hit those targets or costs rise, the periods extend or become unattainable. In contrast, cable wireless is a variable cost business — operators only pay their mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) contract when their customers are using the service. As long as they price the service above that variable cost, they make a profit. 

Moffett pointed to a report he did years ago that argued that cable companies had the advantage in the coming convergence climate, a tenet he says holds true today. 

Why Wired Nets Hold an Advantage

“The argument was simple: it costs vastly more to put wires under a wireless network than it does to put a wireless network on top of wires,” Moffett wrote. “He who has the best (most ubiquitous) wired network will win. That cable doesn’t even have to bother building out facilities in low-value places — they can let Verizon spend that money on their behalf — only makes their advantage all the more dramatic.”

The analyst added that as the cable industry sees the mobile product as the best way to protect its broadband offerings, they will respond to increasingly aggressive telco fiber buildouts with equally aggressive wireless pricing. That strategy already appears to be working. Moffett estimated that cable is capturing as much as half of all wireless net additions within their broadband customer base even at the old pricing. 

Moffett added that the pressure on wireless could force telcos to make a decision — cut their dividend or reduce capital spending. That’s what AT&T was faced with in 2019. It cut capital spending and halted its fiber build in favor of the dividend, then reversed course in 2021, slashing its dividend and recommitting to improving the network.

But in the end, success in the wireless and broadband business is going to come down to price.

“[O]perators will have to pay customers, in the form of a discount, for the disadvantage of forced choice,” Moffett wrote. “Cable’s cost structure and infrastructure advantage allows for them to do that. Verizon’s and AT&T’s do not.”

Comcast shares fell more than 7% Tuesday after chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh told attendees of a virtual investment conference that high-speed internet subscriber growth is expected to slow in Q3, a move that sent other stocks in the sector downward and perhaps a signal that cable’s unprecedented broadband run is nearing the end. 

Comcast fell hardest — its stock fell as much 7.6% Tuesday and closed at $55.59 per share, down 7.3%, on Sept. 14 — but other stocks in the sector took a hit as well. Charter Communications shares closed at $761.86, down about 4%, or $31.21 each on Tuesday, while Altice USA shares fell 3% (82 cents) to $26.61 and Cable One dipped 4.1% ($81.84 each) to $1,908.16 per share. 

Investors have been worrying about a slowdown in the broadband segment for several months and most expected a steep slide in Q2, as the impact from pandemic fueled lockdowns began to wane. When that sharp decline didn’t happen — Q2 broadband growth was lower than the previous year but nowhere near the falloff expected — observers began to wonder if the business had a few more quarters of strong growth still left in it. 

At the virtual Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment conference Tuesday, Cavanagh said the company expects broadband growth to mirror 2019 levels, something he has also said in the past. But it was enough to spook investors, who have been waiting for the next shoe to drop in cable’s extraordinary broadband growth story. 

“What we’re seeing in the most recent past, the tail-end of August, is a little bit of a slowdown in the cable business,” Cavanagh said at the BofA conference. The CFO has been saying for months that investors shouldn’t count on the huge growth in 2020 to continue — Comcast added nearly 2 million broadband customers that year, compared to 1.4 million additions in 2019. In the first half of this year, Comcast has added about 815,000 broadband customers, slightly ahead of the 800,000 it added in the first half of 2020. Comcast’s biggest broadband gains came in the second half of 2020 — about 1.2 million additions, compared to 821,000 additions in the second half of 2019 — so a return to 2019 levels could be perceived as a big decline for the company. 

Analysts had expected Comcast to add about 397,000 broadband customers in Q3, down from the 633,000 additions in the same period last year but in line with the 379,000 additions in Q3 2019.

Comcast still believes it is on track to exceed 2019’s full-year broadband subscriber growth of 1.4 million, and analysts’ consensus estimates have the company finishing the year with 1.6 million broadband additions. 

In a research note, Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall wrote that the market’s reaction to Cavanagh’s comments highlights the volatility around broadband.

“Clearly, cable sentiment is fragile,” Cahall wrote.

While there remains a clear bull and bear case for overall broadband growth — bulls claim gaming, consumers working from home and products like virtual reality will continue to drive the need for speed, while bears point to ever-climbing penetration rates as proof the segment can't continue to grow at the same pace — Cahall is squarely in the middle.  

“Our bias is increasingly skewing negative for the group,” Cahall wrote, adding that he has been historically bearish on Comcast, cautious on Altice USA and sees Cable One as more insulated because of its mainly rural footprint. “We think one conference data point does not yet make the long-term trend for Cable, but our expectation is that sentiment for the space will continue to trend more negative.”

To think, less than 90 days ago, we were reading breathless reports in the Wall Street Journal about how Comcast was looking to catch up fast in the global streaming business through a major deal. A potential merger with ViacomCBS was mentioned, as was the possible acquisition of Roku. 

Also read: Comcast Mulling Big Roku and ViacomCBS Buys? Read The Room, Brian, There’s a Growing Antitrust Fervor

On Tuesday, Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh poured cold water all over those rumors. 

"On the media side, obviously there's a lot going on in the space around streaming. We've talked about it repeatedly, and we're going to play our own hand with the collection of assets we have," Cavanagh said during the Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. 

"We have the ability to produce excellent sports and news programming, whether it be the Olympics or Sunday Night Football, which is the best program television," Cavanagh added. "Those are assets that when combined with our footprint in English language with Sky, and the technology assets we have in cable, give us a path of our own on the streaming side."

Cavanagh also mentioned Comcast's 30% ownership stake in Hulu, "which is growing in value, as well." 

The CFO, however, didn't specifically mention the Biden Administration's current anti-trust sentiment, most notably expressed by recently appointed FTC chief Lina Kahn, which has undoubtedly curtailed any M&A ambitions Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his team might have had at the beginning of the summer. 

Cavanagh cited shorted throws, such as Comcast's collaboration with ViacomCBS to launch an joint-venture SVOD service, dubbed SkyShowtime, in 20 territories in Europe outside the cable operator's Sky footprint. He also mentioned Comcast's purchase of Masergy, a maker of software-defined network technology. 

"The bar is really high for us to pursue outright acquisitions of any material size," Cavanagh said. "That said, we are open to smaller acquisitions that are concentrated on our existing business."

Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh addressed the elephant in the room at the JP Morgan virtual Technology, Media & Communications conference Wednesday, telling the audience that while the company will look at every opportunity, it doesn’t believe it needs to do a big merger deal to survive.  

Cavanagh said that Comcast has the bandwidth to do deals and would look at any opportunity through a strategic lens. But he said there are other factors to consider, including whether an asset can be had for the right price, will add value and can help further execute the overall business strategy.

"Obviously, we know how to do that if necessary," Cavanagh said. "But hear me loud and clear: We like the hand we have, and M&A is not an answer. We like the hand we have without M&A, but we’ll obviously do what’s right for shareholders as time passes."

Cavanagh's comments come shortly after John Malone, who agreed to convert his super-voting shares in Discovery to facilitate the WarnerMedia deal, said that Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts had considered merging with WarnerMedia but backed off because of regulatory concerns.  

Analysts have wondered what effect WarnerMedia’s pending merger with Discovery will have on the rest of the business, and several have speculated that it could force companies like ViacomCBS, Comcast, Fox and Disney into looking for big deals. On Wednesday, Amazon said it would purchase movie studio MGM for $8.45 billion, a move that most likely wasn’t motivated by the Discovery deal. But the Amazon/MGM deal is another example of how even large streaming video providers feel they need more scale. 

Comcast, which has about 42 million signups to its own streaming service Peacock, has been under some pressure from analysts who have speculated that spinning off its NBCUniversal programming business would unlock value. At the JP Morgan conference, Cavanagh didn’t talk about spinoffs, but said that making acquisitions doesn’t always lead to success. 

"Just because you own something or buy it from the other guy, it doesn’t mean you’re going to operate it well," Cavanagh said. "So, we’ve been very focused on making sure when we acquire stuff, we do not take lightly the ability to operate well, execute well. And that’s critical if you’re going to go about it that way."

He added that M&A isn’t off the table, but there are other ways to gain scale, including partnering with other providers and investing in more content. 

"We can do what we need to do in a variety of different ways--invest in content as it is appropriate, partner with other people in some markets as it’s appropriate, and certainly we can consider M&A," Cavanagh said. "But there are a whole host of things you’ve got to face up to if you’re going to go down that third route."

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts saw his total compensation dip about 10% in 2020 to $32.7 million from $36.4 million in the prior year, the result of lower incentives and a change in the interest gained on his pension awards. 

Roberts’ base salary rose slightly to $3.4 million from $3.3 million, and though his stock awards and option awards nearly doubled to $10.58 million and $10.6 million, respectively, those gains were nearly erased by declines in the interest gained on his pension. 

According to Comcast’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission April 23, the interest gained on Roberts’ pension was $150,134 in 2020, compared to $7.6 million in the prior year. Other compensation -- which includes contributions to retirement plans and personal use of company aircraft -- was significantly less, dropping to about $200,158 from $4.9 million in the prior year. 

Also Read: Comcast Touts 4G Speeds from DOCSIS 4 Device

Roberts also saw his non-equity incentives decline from $9.9 million in 2019 to $7.7 million in 2020.

Chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh’s total compensation dipped about 5.8% to $25.25 million from $26.8 million, mainly due to a decline in “other” compensation. Cavanagh received $62,088 in other compensation in 2020, compared to $2.28 million in 2021.

 Jeff Shell, who was named CEO of NBCUniversal last year, received $16.5 million in total compensation in 2020, including a base salary of $2.6 million, stock and option awards of $3.7 million each, respectively and a non-equity incentives valued at $5.9 million. There was no comparison in the proxy to the previous year. 

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson was the only senior executive who saw an overall increase in compensation, with his total take rising 16.7% to $19.7 million from $16.9 in the previous year. Watson, who received 100% of his annual bonus due to record performance at the cable unit, got a  big lift in non-equity incentive compensation (to $5.9 million from $4.6 million). His stock awards and option awards rose nearly $1 million each in the period, to $4.2 million each, respectively. 

All four executives also donated 100% of their salaries from April 1 to Sept. 30 to charities supporting COVID-19 relief efforts. According to the proxy, that amounted to $1.7 million for Roberts, $1.2 million for Cavanagh; $1 million for Watson and $1.25 million for Shell. 

Comcast’s Xfinity Flex streaming video platform is reducing broadband customer churn, and the No. 1 cable operator is actively looking for new ways to monetize it.

We kind of already knew both of those things, but Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh elaborated on the topic Wednesday at the virtualized Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference. 

“We see 15 to 20% reduction in churn for a broadband customer only with Flex versus a broadband customer without it,” Cavanagh said. “That’s what we wanted to see, and that’s what we are seeing.”

Comcast recently revealed that it has deployed 3 million Flex devices, handing them out gratis to broadband-only customers. Flex functions as a rather standard player for popular OTT apps including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and, of course, Peacock. Flex can also be configured in an entirely different way--as a set-top that enables Comcast’s full X1 video platform experience. 

Last month, Comcast split the difference on this bifurcation, enabling Flex support for the  Xfinity Stream app. Now, Flex can function in OTT player mode, and users can still get a Comcast pay TV experience on the device through the Stream app. 

There has been speculation--a solid expectation now, really--that Comcast will soon expand Flex out of footprint, making it a device platform that would compete alongside Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Google TV in the open market. 

To that end, Cavanagh added this: “It then becomes a platform to do more. Obviously we are a marketer of services for a variety of streaming services. If you’re a big streaming service, you look at the success we’ve had with some of the leading streamers out there, integrating them and helping them sell their products, I think we increasingly look at the lens for monetization of that type of activity.”

Coming off a quarter where video subscriber losses were nearly four times heavier than the year before due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh told an industry audience they should expect more of the same in Q2.

Comcast lost about 409,000 video subscribers in Q1, nearly four times the 121,000 customers it lost in the prior year, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the second quarter the first where stay-at-home orders were in effect for the entire three-month period, losses are expected to be around the same.

[embed]https://twitter.com/RichLightShed/status/1272927168792797189[/embed]

Pay TV companies shed about 1.8 million video customers in Q1, tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, price increases and a spike in job losses. It was the worst quarter ever for the sector -- the rate of decline nearly doubled to 7.6% from 4.7% in the prior year -- and most analysts have predicted that the falloff will continue to accelerate. 

At the Credit Suisse Virtual Communications Conference Tuesday, Cavanagh added that Comcast has no plans to subsidize the video business with its broadband service -- which has seen record gains over the past several quarters -- adding that the company sees the traditional video/broadband bundle transforming in the future.

“Our strategy in video is that video is important because video is a great use of high-speed data,” Cavanagh said at the virtual conference, adding that the focus is on connectivity. “...Today, we look at video as important because it's a customer need and because we're the broadband provider and because we have the legacy of investing in X1, maintaining a position of helping in an ever more streaming world, helping customers navigate the video that they choose to buy while offering a bundle that we continue to think for the right customers, is a great value. But we're not going to force it upon you if you don't choose to see it that way.”

He pointed to Comcast’s broadband-only service Flex, which offers connectivity to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video as well as some Comcast video products, as being a key component.

“We're not wedded to being necessarily the seller of a bundle to you in video, but we would very much, if you appreciate either one of our alternatives, a bundle with X1 or a platform approach for video navigation aggregation through Flex,” Cavanagh said. “But we're not going to subsidize -- we're not going to spend broadband profitability. The point is to add to the customer experience, help reduce churn overall on the broadband product, which is a great value, and basically cement a deeper relationship. ...I think part of the shift to connectivity had been to look to integrate Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime and others -- we're sort of open -- because that's the better customer experience. And we think we have the technology that allows for that to happen.”

Cavanagh added he was optimistic concerning the national launch of streaming service Peacock on July 15, adding that the April soft-launch of the product has exceeded expectations “a bit.”

Comcast expects the service to hit its stride later this year and next year, when popular programming like The Office, the Summer Olympics and the Super Bowl is available.

The ad-based service has a lighter ad load -- about 10 sponsors have signed on for the next 18 months -- which should help drive engagement and addressability. But he added it also will be a learning experience in the early going.

“We think that's the right setup to generate the type of creativity such that when we come out of that period of the early days, the first sort of phase of Peacock, we'll have all proven to ourselves and each other and to the market broadly what we think will be high -- very high CPM values of advertising on this particular AVOD service,” Cavanagh said. “I would look at the early phases with the kind of anchor partners as very much an R&D and innovation phase of advertising.” 

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $36.4 million in total compensation in 2019, a nearly 4% increase over the prior year, according to its annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Roberts’ annual base salary rose slightly to $3.3 million from $3.2 million in the prior year, and his stock and option awards remained steady at about $5.3 million each.

Roberts, along with chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Sky plc chief Jeremy Darroch pledged their 2020 salaries to various charitable organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition, Comcast has devoted about $500 million to support its employees through continued pay and benefits where operations have been paused or impacted by COVID-19, and has committed significant resources to support its customers.

According to the proxy statement, Cavanagh received the biggest increase among top executives at the company, with total compensation of $26.8 million, up 23% from the $21.7 million he received in 2018. That gain was mainly fueled by a 71% rise in stock awards to $6.7 million from $3.9 million in the prior year.

NBCUniversal chairman Steve Burke, who stepped down as CEO in January and said he would retire in August, received $42.6 million in total compensation in 2019, up 7% from the $39.9 he received in the prior year.

Watson’s total compensation rose 14% to $16.9 million from $14.8 in the prior year, while senior executive vice president Dave Cohen got a 5% raise, with total compensation of $20 million in 2019, compared to $19.1 million in the prior year. 

DOCSIS 3.1 won’t be central to the future strategies of all cable operators, but the next-gen, multi-gigabit platform remains the best way to deliver big speeds across the MSO’s footprint, Mike Cavanagh, Comcast’s SVP and CFO, maintained Wednesday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

“From where we sit, we’re rolling out DOCSIS 3.1,” Cavanagh said. “We think that's the most effective and efficient way to give big speeds across the footprint most quickly, most economically.”

Mediacom Communications would seemingly agree, as it will have D3.1 rolled out across its network by year end. An outlier is Altice USA, which is pivoting away from HFC as it gears up for an ambitious plan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises architecture across most of its footprint over the next six years.

RELATED: Altice USA to Skip DOCSIS 3.1, Roll Out All-Fiber Network

Comcast is expanding its deployment of DOCSIS 3.1 for a new tier of service that delivers up to 1 Gbps in the downstream.

RELATED: Comcast Sets DOCSIS 3.1 Expansion, Launches 1-Gig in Detroit

“In a couple of years' time, we'll have the next-generation DOCSIS, which will allow for a multi-gig symmetrical. So that's our roadmap,” Cavanagh said in an apparent reference to Full Duplex, an extension to the D3.1 spec that will enable MSOs to deliver symmetrical speeds up to 10 Gbps. At the same conference, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said his company would also be pursuing Full Duplex and symmetrical speeds up to 10-Gig. 

RELATED: ‘Full Duplex’ DOCSIS Speeds Ahead

He also acknowledged that Comcast always has the option to deploy fiber-to-the-premises “anywhere it makes sense,” such as MDUs,  “hyper-builds” for business services, and in greenfield situations. Comcast already offers a fiber-based 2 Gbps residential broadband service called Gigabit Pro across a sizable portion of its footprint.

“But it's…area-by-area, situation-by-situation. We got a pretty full toolkit and we think we deployed capital in a smart way against an opportunity that we're very optimistic about,” Cavanagh said.

As for 5G, an emerging technology that AT&T and Verizon intend to use to deliver gigabit-class speeds to the home, Comcast sees “plenty of opportunity in it,” particularly for backhaul.

He said the degree of the threat of 5G to Comcast is unclear, but allowed that “there may well be use cases that are interesting that impinge on some of what we do.”

Cavanagh also reiterated a belief that Comcast still has room to grow on the broadband side, noting that there are about 6 million DSL homes in its footprint to go after.

As for Comcast’s triggered MVNO agreement, he said the company feels comfortable that it will be able to use it to assemble a compelling offering, expected to debut by mid-2017.

RELATED: Roberts: Comcast Can Make Money on Wireless

“[We] know that the proof is in the pudding and we've got work to do to bring it to market and overcome some of the skepticisms of whether MVNOs can work, but we're optimistic that it can work for us against the goals that we have for that,”  Cavanagh said.

As for recent skepticisms about the model,  T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter said at the same conference that MVNO deals don’t provide deep integration that providers require.

“Having that ecosystem is extremely important,” he said Monday, according to Fierce Cable. “But there's a reason where it's even more important: You're never going to get deep integration in the network with an MVNO. The only way you're going to get deep integration is by owning and controlling what you're doing. And that's absolutely critical.”

Cavanagh said that the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger has no effect on Comcast’s mobile/wireless plans, noting that the MSO already has 150 people working on the project, being led by Greg Butz.