Comcast Flags $1 Billion-Plus Charge as Broadband Losses Hit 144,000 and Cable Job Cuts Are Reported

Comcast's cable business is shrinking, and the company is about to restructure it.

On its third-quarter earnings call Thursday, Oct. 22, Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said Comcast expects a fourth-quarter charge of "over $1 billion," tied mostly to "transformation efforts." Variety reported, citing two people familiar with the situation, that significant layoffs are coming in the cable and telecom side of the company in the coming weeks.

The broadband numbers

Comcast lost 144,000 domestic residential broadband customers in the quarter. That compares with 91,000 lost a year earlier and with the 116,800 loss analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected.

Revenue in the connectivity and platforms business, the part that remains after the spinoff, fell 2.7% to $19.66 billion. The company also reported continued net losses of cable TV subscribers.

The pressure comes from fixed wireless service sold by cellphone carriers and from satellite internet, including Elon Musk's Starlink. Comcast's answer has been to bundle mobile service. It added 368,000 wireless lines in the quarter.

What the layoffs look like so far

The scope is undefined. Two people familiar with the plans told Variety that individual teams are still assessing the impact, and that the cuts are expected to hit the cable side, not NBCUniversal. Comcast had about 179,000 employees at the end of 2025.

The company has not announced a headcount target.

Armstrong framed the move in corporate terms. "We don't look at it as a cost cutting exercise," he said. "This is the ability to simplify in order to move faster, to be more nimble in decision making and, I think, really create capacity to invest for growth."

A charge north of $1 billion, paired with reported job cuts, is a cost action by any plain reading. Armstrong said the restructuring is meant to get ahead of cost moves that will give the business a "fast start into 2027."

The media side is carrying the quarter

The content and experiences business took in $10.54 billion, up 6.5%. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" has grossed nearly $1.8 billion worldwide and is Universal's highest-grossing film ever. Theatrical revenue rose 76.6%, and the studio's pre-tax profit rose 18.6%.

The media division posted a 13% revenue increase to $5.36 billion, helped by World Cup soccer programming and "Love Island USA" on Peacock. Peacock reported a pre-tax profit of $261 million, against a $217 million loss a year ago.

Theme parks were the weak spot. Revenue fell 4.4% to $2.60 billion, short of the $2.71 billion analysts expected, according to LSEG data. Demand in Orlando is softer, and geopolitical tensions are keeping Chinese tourists away from the Japan park, a major market. Executives said the weakness could last into the first half of next year.

Adjusted earnings came in at $1.07 per share, above the 98 cents analysts expected.

The split ahead

Comcast said in June it will spin off NBCUniversal, together with Sky, in a tax-free transaction expected to close in mid-2027. Executives said on the call that the timeline remains on track. The cable networks, excluding Bravo, were already separated into Versant Media, which closed in January.

After the spinoff, Mike Cavanagh becomes chief executive of NBCUniversal. Michael Angelakis, Comcast's former CFO, returns to run what remains: the broadband, video, wireless and business services operation.

That leaves the cable company with the shrinking business. Shares closed Thursday at $22.84, up just over 3%, after falling about 16% for the year heading into the report.

The bull case on cable

Not everyone is gloomy on the broadband business. Veteran cable analyst Craig Moffett acknowledged in a report that "Comcast has a lot of wood to chop before its broadband business returns to positive revenue growth." But he wrote that "it is our view that the pessimism about cable broadband has gone (much) too far."

That is an analyst's judgment, not a result. The quarterly data shows customer losses accelerating, not stabilizing.

What comes next

The fourth-quarter charge will show up in Comcast's year-end results. Individual team assessments will determine how many jobs go, and the first announcements could come within weeks, according to the reporting on the plans. It is unclear whether wireless and business services can grow fast enough to offset broadband losses before Angelakis takes over a standalone Comcast in mid-2027.