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.
Peacock alone incurred $432 million in losses in the first quarter, about double the $215 million it posted in the same period last year. However, the streamer did stop the bleeding a bit compared to Q4 2025, when losses ballooned to $552 million during the first period it began payments for its new NBA deal.
Peacock did not see any significant subscriber boost, however, with its sports-heavy strategy. The streamer netted just 2 million subscribers during the quarter, from 44 million to 46 million, despite its premier lineup of live sports. To be sure, gaining 2 million subscribers is not nothing. But given the caliber of programming available on Peacock in February, it would be fair to expect a larger increase. Comcast pays an average of $5 billion per year for its NFL, NBA, and Olympic rights. It’ll need to see those properties convert more Peacock subscriptions if it wants the math on those deals to work.
There is a silver lining in Comcast’s earnings report: the media unit’s revenue skyrocketed 61% to $7.3 billion in the first quarter. Of course, one would expect a hefty revenue jump when Super Bowl ad sales alone can approach $1 billion. And revenue only matters insomuch as it outpaces costs, which clearly has not happened yet.
Fortunately for Comcast, shares are trading higher following its earnings call on Thursday, amid positive developments in its broadband business, which is far more vital to the company’s health than NBCUniversal and Peacock.
Still, Comcast made a sizable bet on live sports driving value for its media business. And so far, the early returns are not encouraging.
