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NBC loses money on Olympics NBA and NFL.


Despite a “Legendary February” which saw NBC broadcast the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and an NBA All-Star Game, the network’s media unit still ended up well underwater in its first-quarter earnings report.
Comcast’s media business, which includes NBCUniversal and streaming service Peacock, posted losses of $436 million in Q1 2026, per a report by TheWrap. That’s down over half a billion dollars compared to Q1 2025, when the unit posted profits of $107 million. The massive downswing is being attributed to increased programming costs. Turns out, it’s quite expensive to secure rights for the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and NBA games.
 
According to Nielsen, NBCUniversal had the highest share of any media company in February, even in the absence of the independent Versant networks.

Supposedly NBC had successful ad sales for the Olympics and the Super Bowl. In which case, one has to wonder what the plan is to monetize.
 
Supposedly NBC had successful ad sales for the Olympics and the Super Bowl.

It did. The story in the OP is based on another story from The Wrap. If you follow the link, you'll find this quote:

Overall, Comcast’s media unit swung to a loss of $436 million from a profit of $107 million a year ago. However, the Super Bowl, Olympics and an NBA All-Star game helped boost the segment’s revenue 60.8% to $7.3 billion. When excluding the Super Bowl and the Olympics, media revenue climbed 12.7% to $5.1 billion.

My take is the loss was mainly driven by Peacock, not the sports. Plus the benefits from the NBA won't come until 2nd quarter.
 
It did. The story in the OP is based on another story from The Wrap. If you follow the link, you'll find this quote:



My take is the loss was mainly driven by Peacock, not the sports. Plus the benefits from the NBA won't come until 2nd quarter.
The problem is they are paying so much for rights they need to double the profits to pay it back. Can they sustain the NBA deal for 10 years.
 
You don't think the meeting the NFL had with the FCC improved NBC's bargaining position?
No. Not at all. The government is impotent in this matter, as it is a private negotiation between two private companies, one of which holds a Congressionally passed antitrust exemption.

Congress can repeal that exemption at their pleasure, but I do not believe the current Congress could pass such legislation, given their limited ability to pass any legislation.
 
It did. The story in the OP is based on another story from The Wrap. If you follow the link, you'll find this quote:



My take is the loss was mainly driven by Peacock, not the sports. Plus the benefits from the NBA won't come until 2nd quarter.
They’ve got to do something about Peacock. I never remember it being profitable since they launched. They’ve lost money on Peacock for years
 
Peacock has more churn than any other streamer.
It has relatively little interesting content other than the NBC network shows a day later.
 
This is why they are betting on sports content. It’s not helping the bottom line though.
But that content is on the resuscitated NBC Sports channel. No need for Peacock if you have another provider.
 
But that content is on the resuscitated NBC Sports channel. No need for Peacock if you have another provider.
NBCSN isn’t a true network. They just replay random content that’s on Peacock. I have YouTube TV, I’ve got it. But I don’t think many cable/satellite/streamers offer NBCSN
 
NBCSN isn’t a true network. They just replay random content that’s on Peacock. I have YouTube TV, I’ve got it. But I don’t think many cable/satellite/streamers offer NBCSN
They simulcast live peacock games. Honestly it’s easier to see it on YTTV and not have to dig out peacock.
 
But that content is on the resuscitated NBC Sports channel. No need for Peacock if you have another provider.
From what I've been able to find out, it sounds like only Xfinity, Youtube TV, and Direct TV have the new NBC Sports Channel. That's a pretty small amount of providers, leaving lots of people with no option but to get Peacock.

I have a regional cable provider that doesn't have it, even though Comcast is a part owner of this company and we get sucked up into every Comcast channel dispute.

I got Peacock last year when they had a special 29.99 for the year (or maybe 6 months?), as my wife wanted to catch up on Law and Order: Organized Crime, and I wanted to check out the Saved by The Bell restart. I was going to cancel it when the renewal came up, and they came back with an offer of 49.99 so I renewed, as a Minnesota Timberwolves fan it's come in handy for the couple of playoff games that were Peacock only.
 


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