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Investment Overview for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
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Comcast is a U.S. cable operator, providing consumers and businesses with pay-TV, broadband and digital voice (VoIP) services. The company makes money through monthly subscription fees for its services, advertising carried on some its channels and on-demand and pay-per-view programming.
Additionally, the company also owns a huge content business due to its 51% stake in NBCUniversal. The acquisition combined Comcast’s cable networks (such as E!, Golf Channel and Versus) and its regional sports networks with GE’s NBCUniversal which owns cable channels such USA, CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo. The deal was closed in early 2011.
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We believe cable TV (pay-TV) is the most valuable segment, followed by broadband. This is primarily due to following reasons:
High number of subscribers
Comcast had close to 22.3 million pay-TV subscribers and over 18 million broadband subscribers at the end of 2011. Going forward we expect that broadband subscribers will continue to grow while pay-TV subscribers will remain more or less stagnant in long-term.
High fee per subscriber for
There is quite a difference between fee per subscriber for Comcast's pay-TV and broadband subscribers. Comcast is making on average $77 per month from its pay-TV subscribers compared with $48 per month for broadband subscribers.
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Migration to digital platform
Comcast's strategy of migrating to an all digital platform is leading to attractive introductory offers as an incentive for analog subscribers to upgrade to digital cable. Comcast benefits by migrating customers to digital services quickly, since it frees up significant delivery bandwidth by eliminating the analog service. Moreover digital services offer higher profits for Comcast, compared with analog TV services.
Increasing Competition with Telecoms, such as AT&T and Verizon
AT&T's U-Verse and Verizon's FiOS are fiber optic TV services that have gained traction in some geographic areas. We expect competition in this space to result in declining subscription prices for both telecom and cable operators.
Online video services such as Netflix emerging as a potential threat
Comcast's VoD services are increasingly facing competition from online streaming companies such as Netflix. Netflix has been able to create a huge fan base with subscribers growing at a rapid pace. The company has been consistently adding to its movie and TV show catalog. Although there is no evidence currently that services such as Netflix are encouraging people to cut their cable cords, over time this may emerge as a more serious threat.
Trefis Forecast Rationale for Penetration of Digital TV among Comcast Subscribers
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This refers to the proportion of Comcast's subscribers who are on digital platform.
These subscribers typically have a set-top box and have access to much better picture quality and sound than they had on their analog sets. These subscribers also have access to added on services like Digital Video Recording (or DVR) and Video on Demand (or VOD), which the analog subscribers don't.
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Digital cable penetration (or proportion of Comcast cable subscribers on digital platform) has seen an upward trend, from less than 45% in 2005 to more than 78% in 2009. Digital cable outgrowth has outgrown analog subscribers as a number of customers originally subscribing to analog service have upgraded.
We expect the trend to continue. We believe that digital transition is here to stay; we expect nearly all subscribers to be on the digital platform in the next few years.
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Trefis considered the following four factors for its forecast:
- Digital TV offers better picture quality
- Digital platforms have more bandwidth than analog platforms.
- Hence, digital TV subscribers experience much better picture quality.
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Digital TV subscribers have access to a lot more
add-on services and features.
- Digital TV subscribers can use Video-on-Demand (or VOD) services
- They can also use a
Digital Video Recorder (or DVR) and thus view time-shifted TV.
- Further, a number of channels now are
High Definition (or HD), offering much clearer picture quality and a much better overall experience.
- Analog subscribers cannot access any of these services, as these can be provided only on a digital platform
- Bundling of services allows digital users to get access to broadband and voice services more easily
- In the past few years, almost all cable operators have started providing Internet and voice (VoIP) services to their digital customers.
- They can do this because these services can be transmitted over the same digital platform.
- It makes business sense for the operators to provide multiple services to customers as it helps them retain customers.
- It also helps them explore
economies of scope
- It also pushes up the average fee per digital subscriber, thus making them more profitable for the operators.
- For customers, bundling is attractive, as they are saved from the hassle of dealing with multiple service providers
- It also works out to be cheaper for them, as operators pass on the benefit of reduced costs to them.
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Operating on a digital platform is more cost-effective for cable operators
- Digital platforms are more bandwidth efficient and are much easier to maintain and service.
- As cable operators provide more advanced services like VOD and HD-DVR--and as the number of Internet subscribers grows--they will need more bandwidth to satisfy the customers
- Thus, all cable operators are actively upgrading their existing infrastructure, as they look to reclaim bandwidth and increase efficiency.
Back to Company OverviewHow Does Trefis Modelling Work?
How do we get the historical numbers for this chart?
Trefis has a team of in-house Analysts who gather historical data from company filings and other verifiable sources. When historicals are available, we explain how we got them at the bottom of the Trefis analysis section below.
Who came up with the Trefis forecast for future years?
The Trefis team of in-house Analysts considers a variety of factors when projecting any forecast. The rationale for our projections is explained in the Trefis analysis section below.
How does my dragging the trendline on the chart impact the stock price?
- We use forecasts for business drivers to calculate forecasted Revenues and Profits for each division of the company.
- We then use forecasted Profits in a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model to obtain the Price Estimate for the company.
See more on:
DCF MethodologyView All Help Topics