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Comcast shares fell more than 8% after Watson’s remarks at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Monday.
Cable broadband growth has been in the middle of a Ongoing recession. While executives have also pointed to a slowdown in home sales — noting that fewer people sign up for cable when they get a new home — the competition from wireless providers is accelerating. Verizon And T-Mobile played a major role.
“Our competition is competitively intense. That hasn’t changed; it’s been pretty consistent throughout the year,” particularly among “price-conscious” consumers, Watson said Monday. .
Watson noted that the fourth quarter will likely mirror the first half of the year, when the company lost “just under 100,000” customers per quarter.
Despite cable’s continued trends, Watson added that Comcast’s broadband business has remained stable when it comes to its highest-end Internet packages.
His warning comes after Comcast did relatively well. Third quarter When it comes to damage.
The company said in October that home broadband net losses totaled 87,000 during the third quarter. However, excluding losses from the end of the government’s affordable connectivity program, which offered discounts to low-income households, the company estimated that the number of subscribers increased by 9,000.
Comcast had about 32 million home broadband customers as of Sept. 30.
On Monday, Watson attributed the third-quarter improvement to weather conditions. Back to school often means better broadband numbers. He also noted that NBCUniversal’s marketing of the Summer Olympics also helped.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics holds the U.S. broadcast rights to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.