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Comcast Corporation is a provider of cable services, offering a variety of entertainment, information and communications services to residential and commercial customers. As of December 31, 2008, its cable systems served approximately 24.2 million video customers, 14.9 million high-speed Internet customers and 6.5 million phone customers, and passed over 50.6 million homes in 39 states and the District of Columbia. It operates in two segments: Cable and Programming. The Cable segment, which generates approximately 95% of the Company’s consolidated revenue, manages and operates cable systems in the United States. The Cable segment also includes the operations of its regional sports networks. The Programming segment consists of its national programming networks, including E!, Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4 and Style. In June 2009, the Company acquired from Hearst its 50% interest in New England Cable News (NECN). Comcast owns 100% of NECN.

Financial Analysis

Comcast earned approximately $34.3 billion in revenue in 2008, a 10.9% increase from 2007 that followed a 23.7% increase in revenue in 2007.
* The growth in revenue in 2008 was attributed primarily to the 10.7% growth in revenue in Comcast's Cable segment as the company added about 4.2 million net customers in the Cable division during the year.
* Overall, Comcast's revenue has increased over 78% since 2004 as the company has expanded its services to new markets across the country.

In 2008, Comcast's operating expenses followed its growth in revenue and increased by 10.5%, driven primarily by higher expenses in the Cable division as a result of the growth of Cable customers as well as increased marketing costs. Comcast earned $2.5 billion in net income in 2008, a 1.6% decrease from 2007 because of one-time costs associated with its acquistions of several cable companies.

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Competition

Comcast's focus on bundling widens the scope of competition beyond cable companies to Internet service providers and voice companies. Comcast's main competition in cable TV is from both traditional cable television providers like Time Warner (TWX) and satellite providers such as DirecTV (DTV and Echostar (DISH). In previous years, Comcast has lost customers to the satellite providers, who have aggressively pursued new customers. After Comcast began expanding its Internet and phone services in its Triple Play Package in 2008, however, the company now competes on many fronts with companies like AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ).